04 Hugo Arthur, Albus Severus, and The Hogwarts Tournament
by Monkeywoman14
Summary: The Potters have returned for another year at Hogwarts. James participates in the dangerous Hogwarts Tournament, Hugo is accused of stealing a priceless item, Albus is starting to question his girlfriend, and Lily is trying to figure out the mystery that is her former best friend. Will James survive? Will Hugo's name be cleared? Will Albus and Lily get answers? Read to find out!
1. Preface

**_I have to start off by saying this is the fourth book in my next generation series so if you haven't read the first three it is very necessary that you go to my profile page and find The Muggle's Trap, the first book. _**

**_Now for those of you who are caught up, Hey guys, long time no see right? Well, hi. Welcome to the fourth book in the JAL (James Albus Lily) series, The Hogwarts Tournament. I'll let you read the preface and then join me at the bottom of this page for a little chat, okay? _**

* * *

Preface

_Fear. _

It controls you. It baits you, and you're stuck. Then it gives you a little slack, let's you think that escape is possible but that's just false hope. It just reels you right back in and never lets you go.

Being fearless is impossible. No matter where you run, where you hide, fear will find you.

It found me here, in this dark scary maze. But I should have known that. I should have expected that.

Hell, if I were in a happy sunny field filled with lilies and sunflowers, fear would still find me.

Fear was doing a good job of rendering me hopeless. There was no more… anything. No more running, no more hiding, no more pretending it didn't exist. And fear wanted to show me that. It was like it had a hook in me and right now I was completely reeled in. I was staring fear in the face and there was nothing I could do about it.

"You'll never get me," I whispered. Then, sounding slightly delusional, I repeated loudly, "You'll never get me! You hear that? Never!"

There was no response except the echo of my own voice.

"I'll fight," I challenged. "You'll have to kill me. I won't give up!"

_I would take pleasure in killing you. _

I froze. He couldn't be in my head. Not now. Not here. As if I wasn't already going insane. What about the Occlumency? Sure I wasn't perfect at it but it should have helped.

"Leave me alone you murdering idiot!" I yelled.

_I think you and I both know this is too much fun for me to do that. _The sick twisted laugh that followed echoed around my head and made my insides squirm.

And suddenly I was no longer in the maze. I was somewhere scarier than that. I wasteland of a world where I stood on a pile of ashes and dead bodies.

"Let me go!" I yelled not sure if I was talking to Ryan Code or fear in general. Both had a firm grip on me and both were my mortal enemies.

As if in response the world around me changed and I was surrounded by bodies of my friends and family.

And that's when I knew there was nothing to do. There was no escape. It didn't mean I stopped fighting, I'd go until the very end, but I knew now that it was pointless. Fear had won.

* * *

_Fear. _

It got to know you. Played around with you for a little bit. It looked inside your mind and never forgot what it saw.

The worst part about fear was that evil and fear were best friends. They joined together and when they did they were unbeatable. They would use any weapons, any means necessary to get what they wanted.

Even two innocent children.

"Stop!" I begged the killer. "Just leave them alone."

It wasn't fair. They were being used to target me. It was me she should be attacking not them.

"Please, it's me you want, leave them out of this!"

"Now, why on earth would I ever do that?" asked the killer a malignant grin on her face.

"Take me instead," I pleaded, "They're just-"

I didn't finish my sentence. They're just kids? Yeah, but so was I. So were my brother and sister but just about everything that went wrong we were dragged into. It's like some evil force, perhaps fear itself, enjoyed targeting kids. The hostages, me, my siblings, even the killer was just a kid.

"That's right, you're just a kid too. And so am I." She smiled her sadistic little grin again and briefly stopped torturing the hostages. "We all are. This is a cruel messed up world. No one is safe."

With that she returned back to the torturing and the room echoed with screams. Whether it was mine or the hostages I couldn't tell.

* * *

**A/N: **Hi, again. So did you enjoy? I hope you did. Did it leave you on the edge of your seat? Ha, you'll have to wait until the end of the book to see what the heck is going on with the Potters this time.

So I'm afraid I've been having writer's block. I always do at the beginning of a new book. So I'm not actually as far along as I'd like to be. In fact I'm not going to lie, I'm not even done chapter two. According to my schedule I should be on at least chapter eight by now. So yeah, really far behind. I apologize but I won't be able to do weekly updates as of now. Starting from mid September to begging of October I'll start the weekly uploads. For now I decided I'd at least give you the Preface. Sound good?

I do have some good news though. I've been taking a lot of time to think about the characters. And there are certain characters that are especially hard to write like Jacob Cadler, Marlo Green, and Ryan Code. Well, things are starting to make sense. I actually understand those characters now. This book will definitely shock you and it will explain things you didn't understand before.

To end you off I'll leave you with a few questions you can ponder. What are the Potter kids going to get up two this time? Will Ryan Code be involved? What about Stony? Will Lucius Malfoy stay in Azkaban? Who will be the new headmaster? What's the deal with the caretaker, Mr. Joe? What the heck has Code been up to? What's the deal with Biscuit? How will Jacob's sister play a role in this book? How will Hugo be more involved in this book? Will James ever get over Cassidy? Will Albus get more interesting? All these and more will be answered in the newest edition if the JAL series, The Hogwarts Tournament.

Until next Time,

-Monkeywoman14


	2. I Get Some Good Advice

Chapter 1: I Get Some Good Advice

* * *

(Hugo)

I stared at the board intensely. Then I smiled. "Queen to E5."

I looked up and saw the tense face of my father staring back at me. He swore under his breath and mum hit him over the head with the newspaper. "Not in front of the kids."

"He didn't hear me, right Hugo?"

I laughed. "Didn't hear a word Dad."

Mum rolled her eyes and continued cleaning.

"Your move," I told my father. "Unless you want to admit surrender already."

"Admit surrender," Dad snorted. "Do you hear this kid, Hermione? He thinks he can beat me."

"He has beaten you, Dad," Rose pointed out looking up from the book she was reading. "Like a hundred times."

I grinned and leaned back in my chair as my father pouted and said, "Rook A6."

I shook my head. "Queen E7." I watched as my queen moved along the board and got out a little sword which she used to destroy my father's king with. "I win. Again."

Dad looked up disappointed and scowled. "You're grounded."

I laughed and turned to Mum. "Mum, Dad's being a sore loser again."

"Ronald stop threatening Hugo," Hermione said not bothering to look away from what she was cooking.

"Do you want to play, Rose?" I inquired twirling a king in my hand.

"I'm reading," Rose replied shortly.

I sighed. "Mum, I'm going to Lily's."

"Floo powder?" she asked.

"Yeah," I replied.

Mum nodded. "Let us know if you're staying overnight okay, sweetie?"

"Yeah, sure Mum."

I sighed as I walked towards the fireplace. I loved my family but sometimes they got annoying. Which is why I liked having the Potters as a back-up family.

I grabbed a bit of Floo Powder and said very clearly, "The Potter House."

A few seconds later I tumble out of the Potter's fireplace.

On the couch in front of the fire place I had the honour of witnessing Al and Cassidy snogging.

"Ew!" I said loudly.

They sprung apart and at least had the decency to look embarrassed.

"Oh… hey Hugo," Al said awkwardly biting his nail, a nervous habit we shared. "What's up?"

"Trying to get that image out of my head," I replied. "I clearly don't need to ask what you're up to."

"Uh…"

"I'll go find Lily now," I decided.

"Good idea," Cassidy said, maybe a bit coldly. I decided I didn't like her at that moment.

"I think her and James are playing Quidditch outside."

"Cool, I'll go join them."

"We'll come to," Al decided.

"We will?" Cassidy parroted.

"Yeah, it'll be fun."

So Cassidy, Al, and I went outside to the mini Quidditch pitch. Well it wasn't mini, it was huge. But smaller than the one we had at Hogwarts.

"Albus, Cassidy, Hugo," James greeted when we stepped outside. "We were just going to get you."

He had on his charming smile, obviously for Cassidy. I didn't see what all the hype was about. Sure she was pretty. But that's really it. Her personality seemed fake. And to anyone but the Potter brothers it was obvious.

"Great, we can play two on three," Lily agreed hovering beside us. "Hey, Hugo."

I raised my hand in acknowledgement. "Hey."

"I say me and Hugo versus the three of you?" James suggested. "Well, in all honesty I could go up against all of you."

"Yeah, okay, you keep telling yourself that," Albus snorted.

"You wanna bet?" James challenged.

"Yeah, I'll put five sickles on it."

"Sickles, Hugo? You're such an amateur. But I'll take it. Anyone else care to bet galleons?"

In the end James had three galleons and five sickles on this game.

And half an hour later James was complaining.

"That's not fair," he moaned. "You cheated."

Albus snorted. "If being better than you is cheating then yes, we cheated."

James grabbed Al in a friendly headlock and ruffled his hair. "Well, I'll play you any time little brother. And I'll win."

"Okay, right now. Race for the snitch."

James looked at Albus for a second before bolting back outside yelling, "First one to the pitch gets a head start!"

Cassidy followed them and I stayed with Lily who was watching her brothers take off in the air.

"It's nice to see them getting along isn't it?" I said smiling at Lily. I knew that though she never said it out loud her brother's fighting drove he nuts.

"Yeah, it is." She sighed. "You want to go to my room?"

"Sure."

I knew by the tone of her voice she had something very important she wanted to talk to me about.

"I guess you know there's something I want to tell you."

"You can tell me anything Lily," I replied honestly.

"I…" She paused and didn't say anything for a minute. Then so quickly I almost didn't understand her, "Code's been trying to get in my head!"

My fists clenched at my side. It must have been evident how mad I was because Lily stood and held my hands in hers. "Hugo, it's okay. He hasn't actually done anything yet."

"But he killed our grandfather," I yelled, "He could kill you next!"

"You're just as naive as James!" Lily countered. "You have no proof it was Code. None."

"Who else could it be? Let's go downstairs and ask Uncle Harry right now. We won't take no for an answer. He'll have to tell us."

Lily agreed and we went downstairs.

"Lily, Hugo," Uncle Harry greeted smiling. "What's up?"

I decided to be as forward as possible. Maybe I could surprise the answer out of him. "Who killed Grandpa Weasley?"

Harry opened his mouth in surprise and then glared for a second before his expression turned sympathetic. "I know you must be upset-"

"Upset?!" came a voice from the doorway. We turned to see James, Albus, and Cassidy entering the room. "No, we're not upset. We're devastated. And you denying us the one thing we have the right to! The one thing that might actually make us feel better!"

"And what is that?" Harry said calmly.

James' hands were balled into fists at his sides. "Closure." He took a deep breath as if trying to calm himself but it didn't seem to work. "Maybe if you weren't such a self-obsessed prick-"

"James Sirius Potter!" scolded Ginny.

"No don't 'James Sirius Potter' me, Ginevra. I've been trying to hold it together. I've been trying! But I can't deal with it! Not when you keep acting like you lost someone and we didn't!"

Harry was about to say something but then someone else came out of the fireplace.

"James, come. Now."

We all turned to see Alice Longbottom. Possibly the only person in the entire world who could calm James down.

"They wouldn't believe me!" James shouted turning to Alice. Then to his parents, "If you had just trusted me, just once, he would still be alive."

I stood watching not knowing what to do or say. I hadn't meant to upset anyone. It was a stupid idea to mention Grandpa Weasley's death but I couldn't help it. Me and James were closest to him. Out of all the Weasley cousins we spent the most time with him. We cared about him the most.

Alice was hauling James away. I put my hand on Lily's shoulder. After a quick goodbye from Cassidy, Albus followed us to Lily's room.

No one said anything for a while. Then Lily started to cry.

"It's not fair," she said through the tears.

Both Albus and I moved closer to her. "I know, Lils, I know," I whispered soothingly.

We sat for a minute, just thinking. How was it that the mood could go from happy to sad this quickly? How is it that we could have so much pain and suffering to deal with? We were only kids!

"Do you think it was Code?" Lily asked quietly.

"No," Albus replied shaking his head. "Code didn't even know about it at first, I think."

Lily and I both stared at him. Albus elaborated, "He is constantly in James' head. Somehow we're connected, James, Code, you and I. I'm able to block him out but James can't. He's as good at Occlumency as you and I are, Lily."

"You know Occlumency?" I said shocked. If Lily knew Occlumency then how was Code getting into Lily's head?

"No, not really. I just don't know what to call it." Albus sighed and bit on his nail for a minute. "We can block Code out and James can't."

"But why does it prove that Code didn't murder Grandpa Weasley?" I pressed. Personally I couldn't think of who else it could be.

"Knowing Code he would have bragged about it. We weren't told right away what happened to Grandpa Weasley. If Code had known he would have taunted James. Made him go crazy. But Code only did that after James knew. It makes no sense, unless Code didn't know either."

"You have a point," I said. "But we don't know everything about Code. He could change his behaviour. Maybe he needed the murder to be secret."

Albus shook his head. "Dad knows. Mum knows. All our Aunts and uncles know. Despite what James thinks they're not all against him. If it really was Code if they had any reason at all to believe it was Code, any reason at all to believe James wasn't lying about the bastard they would have come to us."

"The way you talk, you're so certain," Lily pointed out. "Almost like you know who did it."

"I don't know who did it," Albus replied, "But I know that Mum and Dad wouldn't hide this from us for no reason. Whoever- or whatever- did this to our grandfather is far worse than Code."

And on that happy note Al left us with our thoughts.

* * *

Lily begged me to stay for a while and so I did. I often stayed at the Potter house. Alice and I both did. Harry and Ginny never cared. In fact they loved having us over, Alice kept James in check and I kept Lily company.

"Hugo," Lily said from across the room.

I turned to look at her and realized she was holding the booklet that read _Lily Potter, Jacob Cadler, 14. _I recognized it immediately. I had one similar to it except it read _Hugo Weasley, Jacob Cadler, 27_. They were booklets that allowed you to communicate with anyone anywhere. When writing something in the booklet it appeared in the matching booklet. It was like muggle texting, without technology.

"Has Jacob replied to you yet?" I asked as I walked over to her bed and sat next to her.

"Yeah, he told me something big went down," Lily explained.

I frowned a bit. "He never actually tells you what happens while he's there, does he?"

Lily looked like she was about to defend him, but she must've realized the tone of my voice wasn't accusatory but more worried.

"I know," was all she said.

* * *

(Jacob)

Five days.

Or at least I thought so. Johnathan knew it drove me crazy not to know what time it was. Not to know how long it passed since he locked me away.

Right now I was in the closet. It was one of Johnathan's favorite ways to punish me without using his fists. I was claustrophobic. And combined with my ADHD it was almost impossible to not be crazy while trapped in here.

But on the bright side I had managed a bit of wandless magic. I was so angry and frustrated that I was able to get the one thing I really needed. Human communication.

Somehow in a burst of energy as I was pounding on the door begging Jonathan to let me out, my Instant Message book flew right under the door along with a pencil.

It was the only way I could talk to Lily and Hugo during the long summers. Sometimes it was the only thing that kept me sane.

_Is everything all right? _Lily's words appeared on my paper.

_Don't worry about me I'll be fine. _It always felt horrible lying to her. The worst part was knowing I might never see her again. I knew Jonathan would never kill me on purpose, he was too sadistic for that, he loved the torture, but I was always worried he might accidentally starve me. After all I hadn't eaten in at least a week and hadn't had any water in around two days.

_I don't understand why you don't just break out of there. I know you're smart enough, Jake. _

And that was the problem. She didn't understand and she never would. Jonathan had ways of controlling me. Too many ways to count.

The main reason I hadn't escaped yet was the "necklace" that was not removed until I went to Hogwarts every year. When he had first discovered I was a wizard Jonathan made me where a dog collar that said _if found please return to Jonathan Cadler_. At first it was just another one of his ways to embarrass me, show me he had full control over me. But then he took a technology course in high school. And he got smarter. He figured out how to turn the collar into an electric dog collar. Whenever I stepped off the property it would give me a jolt. Nothing I couldn't handle until Jonathan figured out how to make it stronger. So strong that unless Jonathan deactivated it- using the remote he always made sure was well hidden- it would give me a jolt so strong that I collapsed to the ground.

So I was never able to leave without permission. Once or twice I had managed to endure the pain and run away but never for long due to the tracking device also planted in the collar.

I paused with the pencil above the paper wondering what to tell Lily. I could never tell her the truth.

Suddenly the door to the tiny closet opened and light flooded in. My brother stood blocking the doorway.

I attempted to slam the little book closed- as long as it was closed you had to type a code to get in- but Jonathan got to it first. He grabbed the book.

"Well, well, well," he said smiling. "What do we have here?"

"Jonathan-" I began but my brother shot his foot out carelessly and it made contact with my face.

"So you have been communicating with your little wizard friends," Jonathan noted as he flipped through the pages of what could be considered a diary.

Jonathan's smile widened. "Lily, I can't wait for the term to start!" Jonathan read in a not-bad imitation of me. "Me too Jake, I can't wait to see you!" He continued this for a while. I was absolutely mortified. Especially once he got to a certain passage.

"I love you Lily, and maybe its lame telling you this way, but I love you and I know you love me. I know we have a connection that's unbreakable. I know we need each other in a way that is more than a normal friendship. But I'm not sure if that's what you call love, you know, like boyfriend girlfriend love, because I don't understand it. I know we "made up" at the end of the year but something didn't feel right. I never apologized for being an idiot. I never said the words I'm sorry. So here it goes: I'm sorry I acted the way I did. I could tell you it was out of love, I couldn't tell you it was my brother's fault-" I this Jonathan raised his eyebrows "-but in reality I can't stop blaming other people for my mistakes. So yes, Lily I love you, and yes, my arse of a brother is a big part of the reason I'm so messed up but neither of those things are responsible for my actions. So, I'm sorry for ignoring you for half the year, I'm sorry for dating Roxy to try and make you jealous. I'm sorry. Okay? I just want things to go back to the way they used to be before I was nominated for the Biggest Arse of the Year Award."

Jonathan looked at me and smiled again. "Wow, little bro, quite the declaration of feelings here."

I didn't say anything.

Jonathan laughed. "I can tell how mortified you are right now, Jacob. So I'll do you a favour, I'll leave this book alone, if you promise me one thing."

"Why do you have to make a deal with me? I snapped. "You already do whatever you want."

Yes, that's the problem, isn't it? I might do whatever I want but you don't do whatever I want. And there's something I've always wanted to hear from you. Well three things actually."

"And if I don't say them?" I challenged knowing full well I had no control in this situation.

"Then I give this book to our dear cousin, the one who goes to Hogwarts to. The prat a year older than you? What's his name… Drake?"

I nodded. Drake Smith. My mother's sister's kid. And Jonathan was right, he was a prat. More in the gossip, rumour spreading sort of way though. If he got his hands on this…

I sighed defeated. "What do you want me to say?"

"First off, I'd like you to admit that I own you. You are mine, whether you like it or not."

"You own me," I muttered quietly, while looking at the ground.

"No, that won't do. I want you to say it nice and loud, nice and clear. Look at me when you say it."

"You own me," I said, a bit louder looking at my brother.

My brother slapped me. "No. I want you to say it loud, clear and look me in the eye. And say it in a nice long sentence this time."

"I won't say it again."

My brother frowned at me. "I'm surprised you have the energy to fight me after being locked in here for four and a half days."

"You can't break me," I said very simply.

"I was going to let you out after you did what I asked. But never mind. No food, no water, until you've learned your lesson."

"And how will you know when I've learned?"

When you're ready to apologize to me, and say what you're supposed to, bang on the door.

It was only hours later when I pounded on the door. It was pathetic but I couldn't last longer. I might as well admit what Jonathan wanted me to say. It was quite clear it was the truth.

My brother appeared in the doorway again. "Let's see if you remember what I ask you to do."

"Please let me out of here. I'm sorry for not listening to you."

"Good. Next."

I took a deep breath. "Jonathan, you have broken me. You own me and you have for a long time now."

"Good and you know what the next thing I want you to say is?"

"What?"

"I want you to thank me."

I quickly wiped the appalled look off my face. "Uh, for what?"

Jonathan punched me so quickly that all I knew was that I was back on the ground and my right cheek hurt.

"For letting you live all these years you ungrateful little piece of crap." He paused. "Forget my generous offer. You can stay in there and rot to death for all I care."

He pushed me back in the closet and locked me there. But not before he beat me to a bloody pulp.

And he was true to his word. He didn't let me out of that closet again for the next… forty eight hours? Sixty? I wasn't sure. He didn't even let me see light. He passed me water twice but no food.

I promised myself one thing though, I wasn't going to ask for escape. I wasn't going to plea for death. I might bash on the door again. Sometimes I couldn't help that. But I would not admit defeat. I would not be broken.

* * *

(Hugo)

"I'm starting to worry, Hugo."

"Lily, how many times do I have to tell you? Jacob is a big boy. He'll be fine."

Suddenly Lily looked repulsed. "It's been three weeks, Hugo! That's the longest he's gone without talking to me. Do you'd be _fine _if you were alone in a house with a sadistic brother and drunk abusive parents?"

She threw up her hands in frustration and left the room.

I didn't go after her. I was sick and tired of listening to her talk about Jacob. There was nothing we could do. Jacob wouldn't want us to be worrying about him.

She was way too involved with him. It was like we couldn't be alone without her mentioning Jacob twenty times. I liked him. I really did, he was my best male friend along with Frank Longbottom. But I was not a big fan of the pain he was putting both Lily and Roxy through.

And so what if I wasn't incredibly bothered by the fact he hadn't messaged either of us in weeks? Was Lily forgetting the times where he decided he had had enough "drama" and just shut down? Had she forgotten that there was a period of eleven years where we didn't know Jacob and he got along just fine?

"You looked stressed."

It was Alice. She stood in the doorway of Lily's room looking none to great herself.

"I could say the same about you," I replied.

"One of the things I like most about you Hugo, is that you almost always smile. So what's got you so down that you can't even do that right now?"

I gave her an incredibly fake smile and she gave me a look that clearly told me to spill the beans before she worked her Alice-magic and figured it out herself.

"It's Lily and Jacob. She's way too obsessed with him."

Alice nodded. "And you're jealous."

"What?" I snapped. "No, I'm not!"

"Then why do you care?" Alice pointed out. "Jacob's your friend. If anything you should encourage a relationship between them."

"I-No-It," after a minute of stuttering trying to make an excuse I sighed. "I'm not jealous exactly… just annoyed. She's acting like she can't live without Jacob. It's like he's replacing me or something."

Alice smiled. "I know how you feel. I can't stand seeing that Cassidy Cow around the house. James googles at her and makes an absolute fool of himself."

"Well, I can tell somebody isn't a fan of Albus' new girlfriend," I said a bit surprised. Alice usually got along well with everyone.

"There's something wrong with her," Alice said, with absolute certainty in her voice. "And James and Albus are just too obsessed with her looks and her fake personality to realize that."

"I couldn't agree more," I said nodding and then something hit me. "Wait… you don't think she's working for Code, do you?"

Alice shook her head immediately. "No, it's nothing like that. She's not _evil. _But she's not good either."

"I don't get it."

"You're a smart kid Hugo. You know exactly what I mean."

I frowned. "I do?"

"You sell yourself short. You know there's a lot more to being smart than being able to read a textbook."

I stared at Alice. "How… how did you know that was bugging me?"

"No one is perfect. We all know it, we all say it. But sometimes we take it too seriously. I don't like it when people say that. Perfect. What does that even mean?"

She waited for an answer but truly I didn't have one. "It means… well it means good, the best. Just… perfect."

"Exactly. But if no one's perfect then perfect doesn't even need to exist, does it? People who strive to be perfect are considered over-achievers, or full of themselves. And the people who don't, the vast majority of us, are left feeling like… well, like crap."

She was right, of course. Alice always was. Perhaps I didn't even know it myself but… perfect, that one simple word ruled my life in a way. I was jealous of Jacob because I thought he was perfect and I spent hours at night wondering how I could be perfect. I looked at Rose's straight O report card and I wonder what she does that I don't. Why is she perfect in everything and I failed three classes?

"Telling someone that they're not perfect, is like telling them they'll never reach all their goals in life. And telling them they are perfect is setting themselves up for disappointment."

She took a deep breath and looked at me. "Hugo, when I look at you I see a lot of things. I see a smart, funny, intelligent boy who will do great things. But I also see the boy who doesn't believe any of that's true." Alice smiled. "The point is you got to stop worrying about how good other people are, stop worrying that you won't please them, and start working on pleasing yourself."

I had been staring at my shoes for the second half of Alice's speech. Finally I looked up and smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She turned to leave,

"Wait!" I called.

"Yes?" she looked at me with her head tilted to the side.

I took a deep breath. There was a certain someone I wanted some advice on. But I just didn't know how to approach her. I was about to ask Alice about it but ended up saying something completely different than what I planned. "What do you do when you think someone you love is in danger?"

Alice shook her head slightly. "I think that checking up on Jacob will do no harm."

I stared at her with my mouth wide open. "How did you know I was talking about Jacob?"

"Hugo, you may be good at a lot of things but being sneaky and deceitful is not one of them." She turned to leave and was already out the door when she turned back around again. "And for the question you were originally going to ask me, if you like her, I say take a chance."

She walked out and closed the door.

* * *

**A/N: **How did you guys like the first chapter? Well not really the first chapter because of the preface but the first real chapter? Hope you enjoyed it. Now a few matter I'd like to discuss:

1: If you guys have any questions, predictions, or suggestions I'd love to hear about them through a review or a PM.

2: For the last few chapter of book 3 I asked you guys a question at the end of every chapter. I'm going to continue with that. This time it won't always be related to my series. Could be anything. So without further ado the question you've all been waiting for: What'd you guys think of the scene with Jacob? Was it too much? Do you guys like those type of scenes? Do you hate them? Do you think I show them to often? Let me know through a review.

3: Speaking of Jacob that leads me to remind everyone of something. Jacob's cousin that Jonathan I referring to was mentioned in book 2. And in case any of you were wondering Eddie Smith is Zachary Smith's kid. You see Jacob's mother's sister married Zack Smith. So Zack is Jake's uncle. And Eddie is his cousin. Does that make sense? Yeah? Good.

4: In response to the review from Lacrimae: I'm so glad your enjoying the series. I suggest you make an account so you can follow teh series and keep track of when I update. Also then I can respond to your reviews privately.

5: So I plan to update the next chapter in two weeks. So October 18. Then the next upload will be Halloween. Then every ten days. Cool?

6: I'll leave you with a few questions to think about. Who is this special someone Hugo has a crush on? What is going to happen to Jacob with this new information Jonathan has? Will Lily ever stop worrying about Jacob? Will James ever learn to control his temper? And what would James do without Alice there to save his sorry ass every time?

"We didn't make this world, we're just the poor fools who are living in it," Diana Ladris, Gone.

-Monkeywoman14


	3. We Attend a Wedding

Chapter 2: We Attend a Wedding

(James)

"It's funny how when you look at a dresser long enough it turns into a dog," I said casually not taking my eye off the red and gold dresser in the corner of my room.

Alice looked up from the book she was reading. "Is that your way of getting my attention or do you need to go to St. Mungo's?"

I flashed Alice a smile. "The first one, I guess. I'm just bored, Ally."

"Well, what do you want to do?" Alice asked putting her book away.

"I want to go back home," I muttered playing with lose strings on my blanket.

"James, this is your home. Hogwarts is your second home."

"Have you read the daily Prophet lately?" I asked taking the paper in question off my desk. "Look."

Alice took the paper and read it out loud.

_"__Paranoid Potter Strikes Again by Robert Skeeter._

_We all know of the antics from Harry Potter's oldest son, James Potter. Last year at the end of the Hogwarts term the boy claimed in front of the whole school that a fellow classmate, Ryan Code, was a responsible for trying to kill James and his friends on multiple occasions. _

_"__James is even crazier than his father claiming that this straight O, model student with a war-hero mother, is responsible for insanity."_

Alice paused and looked up confused. "War hero mother?"

I glared at the newspaper. "Yeah, apparently she was some sort of war hero but I've never heard of her. Dad and Uncle Ron used to tell me so many stories and I've never heard one about anyone named Code."

"Just forget about the paper, okay? It doesn't matter what they say about you."

"Of course it doesn't matter!" I snapped. "I couldn't care less what Robert Skeeter thinks of me. What I care about is that my parents aren't doing anything to stop this!"

"I'm sure they're doing the best they can, James."

"Yeah, seriously, Jamie, you got to learn to just chill."

The new voice was none other than Fred Weasley, who had just entered through the window.

"I'm not as small as I used to be," Fred pointed out as he wiggled through my bedroom window.

I didn't reply and just pouted staring at the floor.

"Not in a good mood I see," Fred acknowledged. "Well, I got something that will cheer your right up… OWL marks!"

Alice snatched hers from Fred's hand and tore it open. I just stared at mine. There was no way I was going to be able to hide my marks from my parents. What would they say when they saw the big fat 'T' beside Potions and History of Magic?

Alice let out a sigh of relief. "I scored pretty high, what about you guys?"

"I'm not telling either of you until Jamie opens his."

Fred gave me a little nudge. Slowly and reluctantly I opened the envelope.

_Dear Mr. J. Potter,_

_You have received the following marks on your Ordinary Wizarding Level Test,_

_Transfiguration (T. Lupin): Outstanding (82%)_

_Defense Against the Dark Arts (L. Malfoy) Good (68%)_

_Charms (V. Weasley): Outstanding (96%)_

_Potions (P. Parkinson): Bad (35%)_

_Herbology (N. Longbottom): Poor (50%)_

_History of Magic (E. Macmillan): Troll (20%)_

_Arithmancy (K. Kramer): Acceptable (55%) _

_Care of Magical Creatures (R. Hagrid): Good (69%)_

_Muggle Studies (L. Bryson): Exceeds Expectations: (77%)_

_Congratulations,_

_Neville Longbottom _

"That's not bad," Alice said, looking over my shoulder. "Nicely done."

"And let me guess, you didn't even fail one class?" I hissed bitterly.

"No, I didn't. But you did get Outstanding in two classes."

"I got a 'troll' Alice!" I argued. "My parents will ground me forever."

"Well, I didn't get the best marks either," Fred commented.

I took his letter from him. "Transfiguration, Good. Charms, Outstanding. Defense, Good. Herbology, Exceeds Expectations. Potions, Bad. History of Magic, Dreadful. Arithmancy, Acceptable. Care of Magical Creatures, Acceptable. Muggle Studies, Good." I looked up from the paper and glared. "You only failed two things! And your worst mark was dreadful!"

Alice sighed. "I think you need to get out of the house."

"I'm grounded, remember? Apparently saving the school from possible death is a crime these days. Thank god I'm not in jail, right?"

"Let's go to the park," Fred suggested.

Alice and I agreed. We snuck out, which wasn't too hard since Mum and Dad were in a very serious conversation with Teddy. I tried to convince Alice to let us eavesdrop but she just dragged me away.

I liked the park because it was ours. Ours and only ours. Besides the three of us only Teddy knew about it. Being out in the middle of the forest, in a place that was entirely our own gave me a sense of peace. Like I was so far away from the real world that my usual problems couldn't reach me. All we had to worry about here was who would be it while we played tag.

Well, at least that's how it usual was. Today was a bit different. I just couldn't seem to get my mind to stop worrying.

"James, what's wrong?" Fred asked waving a hand in front of my face.

"I don't know," I mumbled. "I just feel… watched."

"Is it really so hard for you to just enjoy your summer vacation?" Fred sighed, exasperated.

Under normal circumstances I would have exploded. I would have told Fred that's it's not very easy to enjoy your summer when you're forced to be holed up in your room, when you have to walk in on the girl you love snogging your brother, when you have to listen to people calling you an attention seeking prat, when you have to worry about being murdered in the middle of the night, but at that moment I felt it.

"He's here," I whispered. "I know it, he's here."

Fred and Alice knew me too well to have to ask who I was talking about that. "How can you know that, James?" Alice queried.

"He's in my head, Alice," I responded while searching through the trees. He had to be here somewhere. "It's like we share a brain. He knows what I'm going to do and when I'm going to do it because I don't know how to keep him out. I can't say the same about him because he does know how to keep me out. But he made a mistake right now, because I felt him. He's here and I'm going to find him."

I darted off in the trees running. I tripped over roots, stumbled, regained my balance, and then kept running. The forest was huge and by now he probably knew I had discovered him, and ran off. He could be anywhere.

Then I had an idea. "Homenum Revelio!" I shouted.

Red halos appeared over Fred and Alice's heads. Although I couldn't see it I knew one appeared above my head too. But in the distance, I could see a faint red glow. And as quickly as it appeared it disappeared.

I sped off in that direction. I was screaming his name like a mad man. If anyone saw me with that crazed look at my face, chasing after something I couldn't even see, I would have been checked into a mental hospital.

I didn't stop until I had run so far I reached the end of the forest. Once there I doubled over and panted scanning the streets but there was no sign of him. Once again I had let Ryan Code escape.

* * *

That night I couldn't focus on anything. On our way home from the park I almost got run over by a car. Once I did get home, I almost got caught for sneaking out. I didn't touch my dinner. And I put on my Quidditch pyjamas on backwards.

I was just about to lie down and go to sleep when Teddy entered my room.

I didn't know exactly how to feel. Teddy and I weren't on bad terms. But it was like we could never be as close as we were before. At least not while he continued to act like he was forty, not twenty. Seriously three years wasn't that big of a difference.

"Hi, James," Teddy said watching me to gauge my reaction.

"Hey, Teddy," I replied sleepily.

"You don't look like your doing so good."

"I'm not."

"Is it because you got a troll?"

I narrowed me eyes. "Did Fred tell you? Oh I'm gonna kill-"

Teddy put up his hand. "Relax, James. I'm your teacher, I get to see all my student's grades."

I looked down feeling stupid. "Oh."

"And I feel like I owe it to your to tell you that your Dad and Ginny talked to me about your grades."

My head shot back up. I realized that must've been conversation I saw going on earlier. "Really? What'd they say? What'd you say?"

"They're concerned about you James. You never talk to them anymore. In fact the only people you do talk to are Fred and Alice."

"That's not true. I talk to Albus and Lily too."

"You never share anything with them," Teddy argued.

"They're my little sibling, why should I?"

"You never share anything with anyone other than Alice. It's unhealthy, James."

"Maybe it's because I have no one else," I said coldly. "Mum and Dad are unsympathetic, our aunts and uncles would tell them anything I say, I'd rather not dump my problems on all my friends, and you only talk to me when I'm in trouble."

Teddy at least had the dignity to look guilty at that. "I'm sorry, James. But always know you can come to me."

I nodded.

Teddy looked at me like he was determining whether or not I would actually listen. "If this is about you not trusting me, I'll have you know I refused to tell Harry and Ginny anything about your personal life. Said it was Marauder's Code."

I didn't really think teddy had a right to use the Marauder's Code anymore since he broke it so many times but I didn't comment on that I just said, "You swear?"

"I swear." Teddy said solemnly. "And there's another reason I'm here tonight."

I nodded at him to continue. He had a wide grin on his face as he spoke, "I wanted to share some news with you. I'm… getting married!"

My jaw dropped open. "What?"

"Me and Victorie I proposed and she said yes!"

"Congratulations that's awesome!" I shouted clapping Teddy on the back.

"And I want you to be my best man."

I didn't speak for a few seconds. Teddy wanted me to be his best man? Out of all the people he could have asked, he wanted me? I felt honoured. For a little while I forgot this was the same guy who gave me countless detentions last year.

"Teddy, that'd be awesome! Oh, I have to organize your bachelor party! We can go to one of those cool casinos and-"

Teddy interrupted me with a laugh. "Whoa, there kid you're not even of age."

I shrugged. "When has a little thing like that ever stopped James Potter?"

Teddy smiled and ruffled my hair. "Night, James."

Despite my energy and excitement a few seconds ago I could barely whisper "Good night Teddy," before I fell asleep.

And then I was awake what felt like seconds later.

But I wasn't in my room. I wasn't lying under my Gryffindor bed sheets. I was in the middle of nowhere.

It was dark, pitch black. I wasn't really scared of the dark anymore, but I was scared now. Terrified. I had hated the dark because you never knew what was there, you didn't know whether you were safe. There could be a murder standing over you and you wouldn't know it. I hadn't really gotten over the feeling, the worry that something would be lurking in the corner, but I've started to believe that it's unlikely, that it won't happen.

Right now though, I could feel it. There was something there, something dangerous that I couldn't see. I was unarmed and practically helpless.

"How does it feel to know I escaped you again, James?" asked the voice Ryan Code.

I reached in my pocket for my wand though I knew I wouldn't find it. Wherever we were right now, Code was controlling it and there was nothing I could do to defend myself against him.

"How does it feel to know I have ultimate power over you right now?" This time his voice was softer, but definitely closer.

I still didn't answer. I didn't know what to do. Without my wand I felt naked and weak. My wand was all I had when it came to defending myself.

"Who would've guessed the great James Potter is nothing without a wand?" taunted Code. "You're all talk. You always were. Pretending that you were some great hero everyone should look up to. Like you deserve a medal for just being alive or something. You're pathetic James."

I couldn't stay silent anymore. "Oh and what, you're perfect? You are a murdering, lying little arse! You've torn apart my family! It's your fault, it's all your fault!"

Code was silent for a second but when he spoke again it was with as much hatred and jealousy a single person could muster, "I torn apart your family?" he hissed quietly. "At least you have a family. I don't James, and you know why that is? Because you killed my sister. My mom committed suicide shortly after that. Did you know that?"

I could feel his eyes on me, those cold, black pits that he called eyes. And for once in my life, deep underneath the anger I could hear a more human emotion, something I didn't even know Code was capable of, grief. Somehow it made me feel more afraid.

"I wanted to die to. I would have but I was only six, I didn't know how to kill myself. And it wasn't what Lauren would have wanted. So instead I decided to send the rest of my life plotting my revenge. Justice doesn't exist in this world, you have to even things out yourself. And that's exactly what I'm doing."

I didn't feel sorry for him, I couldn't because I knew he was a psychopath. But I did feel guilty. Not for him but for his sister. She must've been a good person if she risked her life to save mine. And for Code's mum who couldn't have been all bad if she was friends with my parents.

"I was going to give you some information. But you can forget it. You've made me angry. Just know that when your cousin turns up dead, you could have saved his life if you were just a smidge nicer to me."

I didn't know what to say. I wasn't about to apologize to Code, beg for his forgiveness, because he supposedly had information. Because my cousin might turn up dead. But it was just his way of messing with my mind.

I took a calming breath and said nothing.

"And James? The next time you rant about how evil I am, remember that people aren't born evil. Something makes them that way, and for me, that something is you. Remember that next time you try and blame everything on me, okay?"

The world of darkness dissolved around me and I was lying in my bed eyes wide opened, soaked with sweat, feeling deeply disturbed.

* * *

(Lily)

I didn't mean to get angry at Hugo. We hardly ever fought. In fact we didn't fight, not until we had gone to Hogwarts. It was like as we got older we were growing further and further apart.

It was the last thing I wanted to happen. But it wasn't my fault was it? You couldn't possibly blame me because Hugo was overprotective?

I used to be able to read him from a mile away, now I couldn't even understand him. Him and Jacob were friends so what was his problem?

"I don't hate Jacob," Hugo said entering my room and sitting next to me. "He's my friend, Lily."

I looked at him. He seemed troubled. There was something bothering him.

Immediately all my anger dissolved. "Hugo," I said concerned. "What's wrong?"

He sighed. "I spoke with Alice. She… she gave me some good advice. Made me realize some things."

"You seem…anxious. What's going on, Hugh?"

"I'm jealous. That's why I don't like you hanging out with Jacob so much. It takes time away from us. I just started to feel like you don't like me anymore."

"You know that not true," I replied giving him a hug.

"I know. I just feel lonely sometimes. But… anyway Alice helped me get over that. And she also helped me make a very important decision."

"Which is?"

Hugo took a deep breath. "We need to go see Marlo."

I just stared for a minute. "Marlo? Why?"

"Just trust me okay?" Hugo said. There was something in his eyes. Something that made me not want to argue.

"Okay," I said simply.

He smiled, relieved. "Good. We leave in the morning."

The next morning we were set to leave for the Burrow. I didn't know why since it was a week earlier than we usual went, but I didn't argue. I supposed Hugo must've known this, because the last time I ran into Marlo I was on a walk near the Burrow. Being there would make sneaking out to see him much easier.

Once we arrived at our destination we greeted all our cousin aunts and uncles, waited a bit, and then snuck away to the backyard. We told grandma Weasley we were going for a walk. Hugo seemed to feel guilty for lying, and so did I, but I kept telling myself it wasn't exactly a lie, so it was okay.

"You still haven't explained to me what we're doing," I mentioned as Hugo and I walked down the street.

"Well, I've been feeling bad all summer," Hugo explained. "I mean knowing about Marlo this entire time? And not telling him?"

I suddenly flashed back to last June when Marcus Green had travelled to Hogwarts with the intention of resurrecting Tantibus and setting him on all the students at Hogwarts. He had told us why he wanted to do it. Because he was an eighth-blood, not a wizard but not a muggle, yet he was not allowed to go to Hogwarts. And Marlo's mother, she was also an eighth-blood, making Marlo technically eligible to go to Hogwarts.

"It never even occurred to me he didn't know," I said feeling guilty.

"Well, if he did know he'd be at Hogwarts now, wouldn't he?"

"So you just want to tell Marlo he's a wizard?"

"I also want some information."

Something about Hugo's tone made it sound like he didn't want to go into detail so I didn't ask him to.

We were walking for a while before Hugo stopped in his tracks. "I don't know where he lives."

I smiled. It was just like Hugo to forget a major detail like that. "Genius plan, Hugh, really."

"Do you know?" Hugo asked hopefully.

"He doesn't live anywhere. He just… lives on the streets."

Hugo turned to me. "Lives on the streets? That's impossible. No one would just walk by if they saw a ten year old sleeping on the streets."

I shrugged. "Last time I talked to him was around Christmas. He kidnapped me and took me… to some house."

"Where?"

"It was an abandoned house."

"We passed a street full of abandoned buildings."

And so we back tracked. After finding the street and walking towards the end of it we found a house that looked too abandoned. Like someone was trying to cover up the fact that it was actually occupied.

Feeling somewhat stupid I stepped up and knocked on the door. No one answered. I frowned and knocked again.

This time someone did answer and he was holding a gun. The person was covered from head to toe, all I could see were his eyes. Though I couldn't see him, I had a feeling it was Marlo.

Still, as an automatic reaction I put my hands up in the air. The person pocketed the gun and grabbed mine and Hugo's arm, pulling us inside.

The inside of the house was... interesting. The windows were all tinted. You could see outside, but you couldn't see inside. It was dark, the only light coming from a few candles on the windowsill. There was hardly any furniture. Just a table, an old couch, and a wooden chair.

The person unravelled the material covering his face and I realized I was right. It was Marlo.

"Why the hell were you pointing a gun at us?" demanded Hugo crossing his arms.

Marlo shrugged. "I wasn't expecting visitors."

"You were going to kill us because you weren't expecting visitors?" Hugo repeated sounding agitated.

"The gun wasn't loaded."

"Still!"

Marlo gave us a bored look. "I highly doubt you came here to argue over my use of an empty gun."

Hugo shook his head as if trying to clear the thought of what just happened out of his mind. "You're right. We came for something else."

"I don't have all day," Marlo said, the same bored look on his face. "Are you going to get to the point?"

"We have some information you might find useful."

"And what do you want in return?"

"What makes you think we want anything in return?" I asked.

Marlo turned his suspicious gaze from Hugo to me. It was as if he hadn't noticed me yet. "Lily, how nice to see you."

I wasn't sure how I felt about Marlo. He seemed nice, but then again so did Ryan Code at first. He was dating Claire Code, too. How could someone who overlooked the flaws of a psychopath be good?

"Yeah," I said. "You too."

"Have I ever done anything to you?" asked Marlo a bit puzzled.

"No," I replied evenly.

"Then is there another reason for you cold attitude?" When my only response was a shrug Marlo glared at me for a second. "You came to seek me out. Now if all you came here to do is criticize me I suggest you leave."

Hugo gave me a look that said relax. So I sighed and apologized.

"Don't judge a book before you've read the whole thing," Marlo said simply.

"Isn't it don't judge a book by its cover?" asked Hugo.

"It's not the saying I believe in. You see, in my opinion, there's nothing wrong with judging someone if you don't know them. If you didn't, how would you decide if you want to get to know the person in the first place? But to judge a person to their face when you hardly know anything about their life? There's a lot wrong with that."

I frowned as I took in what Marlo said. He always had interesting opinions on everything. His thought were just so wise, it made me forget I was talking to someone who was only twelve years old.

"I agree," said Hugo after thinking for a minute. "But we didn't come here to talk about sayings. We came because we have some information you could use."

"Yes, let's get back to that. You still haven't told me what you want in return."

"We'd like to know anything you can tell us about Claire Code," Hugo proposed.

"Absolutely not," Marlo replied immediately, crossing his arms stubbornly making him look like the twelve year old he was.

"Why do you insist on protecting her?" I asked desperate to get an answer.

"Love is a beautiful and rare thing, especially for people like me and Claire. Even the worst of people in the world deserve to have someone who loves them, someone who'd do anything for them. Because those who don't have love in their life, not from a parent, not from a family member, not from a friend, or from a lover, are not truly people at all, they are monsters or will be soon. Separate us not by what we do or how we act, but how we treat those we love."

It was probably the most heart-filled thing Marlo had said, whether it was true or not. Part of it at least was true, everyone deserved to have love in their lives.

Hugo opened his mouth to argue but I elbowed him. He looked at me and I shook my head slightly. There was no point in telling Marlo what he had with Claire Code wasn't true love. Or that he was too young to love, because in the areas where it counts he was truly older than us.

"I agree," I said. "You could never betray the one you love. Fair enough. I have a different request for you."

"Oh and what is that?"

"I we give you the information will you look after Jacob for us, make sure he's okay?"

Marlo gave me a funny look. "I just told you that you have to cherish love when you find it. I don't have many friends-"

"Maybe's that's because you shove a gun in the face of anyone who knocks on your door," muttered Hugo.

"-and Jacob is one of those few friends. I already check on him almost every day."

"Oh," I said, because it was all I could think of. Jacob would let Marlo into his house but not me?

"Don't get the wrong idea, Lily. He doesn't know I check up on him. And I never enter his house I just check every little while to make sure he's all right."

"Thank you," Hugo said smiling. "You may be different, Marlo, but you're a good person, I can tell."

I gave Hugo a sideways look. Just a second ago he seemed to hate Marlo, yelling at him, not believing his opinions. Now he seemed to truly respect him. Hugo really valued those who looked out for their friends. And despite all his flaws, I guess Marlo is one of those people.

"I'm glad you've finally realized," Marlo responded not unkindly. "Now what is this information you speak of?"

"Last year we talked to your father-" Hugo began.

Marlo's face suddenly hardened. "I don't want to hear anything that jerk has to say."

"No, trust me you want to hear this-"

"Not if he told you-"

"Marlo you're a wizard!" I shouted.

There was absolute silence for way too long. Marlo had a completely shocked look on his face. Hugo was nervously biting his nails. I stared at the flickering candle light.

Suddenly Marlo's face was hard and unwelcoming. "Did my father send you here? Did he ask you to deliver that message? Well you can tell him that I'm done with his stupid lies!"

I could have sworn it sounded like he was fighting back tears, which was surprising. Marlo really hated his father. I couldn't blame him though, if my father had drugged me and held me hostage planning to use my blood for the resurrection of an ancient creature, I would be furious too.

"No, Marlo, it's nothing like that," I said. "I promise."

"How am I supposed to believe something like that?" Marlo asked sinking onto the couch. He had his hands in his face and all I could think was that if I saw that boy cry, I would cry too.

"Marlo, you can trust us."

He lifted his face and his bright green eyes were watery but he was not crying. "I'm twelve. If I was a wizard I would have gone to Hogwarts already."

"You're not a registered wizard, Marlo, but we can fight for you. Every wizard has a right to learn magic."

"You can't expect me to believe you without a proper explanation."

And so I told him the whole thing. How Marcus had risen Tantibus and how it lead to him telling us everything. He was a wizard, not a full one but half wizard half muggle. And Marlo's mum also had some kid of magic meaning that Marlo was eligible to go to Hogwarts.

Once I finished the story it was silent again. Marlo was trying to absorb all the information I just told him.

"Marlo, I can't say I understand because I don't but I can say I'll help you in any way I can."

"Not to be rude or anything," Marlo began, "but I have a lot to think about…"

I nodded. Hugo just stared. "I think he'd liked to be left alone, right Marlo?"

Marlo just nodded. "I'll send you an owl, okay?" I told him. "It'll give you more time to think. I'll tell you a time we can meet up again to discuss this, okay?"

"Yeah, if you're expecting us, you won't have to shove a gun in our faces."

Marlo gave the faintest trace of a grin.

We smiled and left the young boy, the young wizard, with a lot to think about.

* * *

(Albus)

I don't know why it felt so good. Because I loved her? Because she was so beautiful? Or was it because I finally had something James didn't?

Was I a bad person because I was happy that I won? Was I a bad person because I called it 'winning' like Cassy was some sort of trophy? She wasn't a trophy or a prize, she was my girlfriend. But that didn't change the fact that I felt a rush of pride every time I was snogging Cassy or I saw the look on my brother's face when we were together.

"Albus, what's wrong?" she asked pulling away from the kiss.

I smiled. "Just thinking about how lucky I am to have you," I answered twirling a piece of Cassidy's hair.

Before she could reply the door flung open, standing there was Hugo. He was a bit breathless.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" I said glaring at Hugo.

"Victorie and teddy are getting married!" Hugo shouted completely ignoring my question.

"What?!" I said standing up without even realizing it.

"Yeah, I know its crazy right? Teddy proposed to her and she said yes!"

"How do you know?" Cassidy asked sounding slightly annoyed.

Hugo smiled and puffed out his chest. "I'm Victorie's favorite cousin obviously she told me first."

That night the Weasleys celebrated. We partied and laughed and congratulated the eldest Weasley child on tying the knot.

It was the first time in forever that I felt like we were actually family.

Grandma Weasley was so excited she couldn't wait. She planned the wedding and it happened a week later.

It was actually really nice. It wasn't a large reception. Just family, friends, and their dates. I had taken Cassidy. Technically it was our first formal date.

"It's hard to believe he's finally getting married," I sighed. "Makes me feel old."

Cassidy laughed. "You're fourteen Al, you still have your whole life ahead of you. Me, I'm fifteen. Now that's old."

I laughed and pecked her quickly on the cheek. "You have a great sense you humor," I whispered in her ear.

"And you are great at giving me compliments."

As we sat together complimenting each other and just enjoying our time together I saw James across the room. He was sitting next to Alice, not paying any attention to what she was saying. Instead he was staring at Cassidy and I. He thought we didn't notice. But he must've forgot that I could read his mind. Literally. My brother, my sister and I had a special connection none of us could understand.

Right now he was wondering why it wasn't him. He wanted Cassidy. He loved her but he hated the fact that I was with her.

It was sad because James and I were actually starting to get along. We hung out, we played Quidditch and sometimes we just talked. But there was still a wall between us, blocking us from completely restoring our brotherly bond. That wall was Cassidy. But what was I supposed to do? Break up with her? I knew James wouldn't do that for me if she chose him.

_Get out of my head, Al. _

It was James. We could also communicate this way, talk without out actual words, in our heads.

_I'll break up with her if you want me to. _I meant it to. I didn't want to but James was more to me than Cassidy.

James sighed. _Don't. I know you love her and she loves you. I'll just have to get over it. _

I turned to where James was sitting. I smiled and mouthed. Thank-you. He smiled briefly and gave me a thumbs up.

A few minutes later Cassidy and I had taken a seat, and were watching Bill walk Victorie down the aisle. Then James, Teddy's best man, handed Teddy the rings. We listened to the wedding vows, and as I heard my cousin say "I do" I cried a little.

Then we partied. We partied hard. I danced with Cassidy for a while before we both got tired and took a break for cake. Once she was done James came by and asked her for a dance.

It reminded me of last year, when James had taken Cassidy to the Valentine's Day dance. I had asked her to dance that time. Well, the shoe was on the other foot now.

And it was while I was thinking this that I felt someone grab me from behind and shoved something hard and metal against my head.

"Can I have your attention please!" shouted the man. "Hand your wands over to the nice fellow right here-" he pointed to a person I couldn't see "-and this boy doesn't have to die. Disobey my orders and I'll shot the kids brains out. Do it. Now!"

* * *

**A/N: **Well I hope you guys enjoyed that. What will happen to Albus? Who will blow his brains out? Why? Guess you won't know for another week :P ha, I'm evil. Now for some things I have to cover.

1: I am so so so sorry I forgot to update on the 18th! I seriously completely forgot I told you guys I would update then. I was thinking Halloween. But anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

1: First on our list the question I always ask at the end of the chapter. What's your opinion on Teddy right now? He's kind of confusing isn't he? I enjoy writing him.

2: I think I'll be able to do updates every 7-10 days. Unfortunately I just started high-school and I'm really busy. Might not be able to write a chapter a week like before. But I have a little bit of a head-start. Either way next update will be Halloween cause that's what I promised you guys.

3: Reviews are awesome!

4: Questions to think about: Will James ever stop obsessing over Code? Was Code actually really there? Is Teddy back to his old self? How does Code get into James' head like that and why do they have a special connection? What's the deal with Marlo? Will he end up going to Hogwarts? What will happen to Albus? Who is holding the gun to his head?

"You do not forget the face of the person who was your last hope," Katniss Everdeen, Hunger Games.

-Monkeywoman14


	4. Guns, Plans, and Bottles of Wine

Chapter 3: Guns, Plans, and Bottles of Wine

* * *

(Albus)

I didn't exactly know what to do. I mean what do you do when someone has a gun to your head?

I thought about kicking him in the shin, something I might've done last year to prove I'm brave, that I'm a true Gryffindor. But dating Cassy had proved to me that I didn't need to be a "brave" idiot for people to like me.

Everyone in the room was frozen. No one moved a muscle.

"Did you not hear him?" asked a different man that I couldn't see. "He said to hand over your wands."

The man holding me reached into my pocket. He grabbed my wand and tossed it to the other guy.

"See, Albus did it," the man who collected my wand pointed out. "Now I'll point to you and then you go to the room I direct you to, understand?" Nobody moved. "Let's start with the famous Harry Potter."

I couldn't see my father from this angle. I wanted to turn my head but I couldn't. I was too aware of the gun on trained on me.

I heard footsteps and then a door opening. "There we go. Your turn, Ginny Potter."

And he kept calling people. Sending them to a room that I couldn't see. I assumed there had to be at least three men. One holding the gun to my head, the one collecting wands, and another directing people to the rooms. Perhaps more.

Finally they had called all the adults and only kids were left.

"James Potter," the man called.

James didn't move.

"Did you hear me, James?" asked the man. "I said hand over your wand. Now."

_Do it, James, do it. _I told my brother in his mind.

_Albus, are you okay? _I could tell he was focusing really hard to communicate these words.

_James, I am fine. Just tell me what he's doing, I can't see. _

"James Potter hand over your wand now!"

And then James made a very stupid decision. "Expelliarmus!"

The spell hit the man holding me. And it had absolutely no effect.

"You didn't obey my orders," the man said. He was angry. Very angry.

He shot me.

Quite a few things happened at once. Right before the bullet was shot James handed over his wand. I heard a slapping sound and Cassidy shouting "You idiot!" presumably at James. Then I felt the pain. I had been shot in my foot.

_Albus, are you okay? _James said in my head_. _

_Yeah, it doesn't even hurt that much, _I said doing my best to ignore the pain.

I had definitely lied. My foot hurt a lot. In fact it hurt so much that I had pretty much missed all the names that were called after James'. I was only brought back to reality when the man holding me let go.

"Move it, Potter," the man said poking me in the back with his gun.

For some reason I felt brave. Maybe it was the pain driving me insane of maybe I just felt like following James' example. But whatever the reason I said something incredibly stupid that probably saved my life. " How do you expect me to move when you shot my foot?"

"What?" the man snapped. "Just limp or something."

But I didn't. I refused to move and so he carried me. And as he did I formed a plan in my mind. It was stupid, it probably wouldn't work, but it made me feel safer to know that I was trying. If I was going down, at least I was going down fighting.

The man led me into a room. In there were all the kids who attended the wedding.

Automatically I looked for our wands. I saw them on a table next to the man- no men, there was two of them. The table also had bottles of wine on it. I figured it must've been a store room.

Then I noticed all my cousins and friends. James was in the corner with his heads in hands whispering quietly to Alice and Fred. Lily, Liam, Hugo, Lucy and Roxanne were off to the side next to Molly and Dominique who were trying to console them. Rose was with Luke, Thomas and Alec, Finnegan trying to stop a distraught Dylan Corner from crying. Emily and Katie Thomas were huddled together with Zack and Theo Finnegan. Jace Corner and Cassidy were both pacing the room muttering to themselves.

All these kids… they were so young. What kind of people would do this to poor innocent kids?

When the man who had been carrying dropped me onto a chair off to the side Cassidy came running over.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "Are you hurt? God, Albus, what did he do to you?"

"I'm hurt. I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out. Cassidy I just feel like I might die any second."

After making sure the men's backs were turned, I stomped down with my foot to show her that I was actually okay.

Cassidy gave me a confused look and I nodded slightly and mouthed the word _plan_. I didn't know if she really understood my plan but she was a Ravenclaw I was confident in her abilities.

Everyone had looked up when I entered the room. They all made to rush towards me put the man with the gun pointed it at them. "Don't move!" he shouted.

Everyone backed off except James, who had to be dragged back to the corner by Alice and Fred.

"Perhaps we should explain ourselves," the man said. "You see me and my friend have a job to do. We need something and we know one of you have it."

"How do you know it's us?" asked James ignoring the elbow in the rib Alice gave him.

I started groaning hoping my plan would work before James ended up getting himself shot.

"Because we have an eye witness-"

"If you had an eye witness wouldn't he know who has whatever you're looking for?" This time Fred kicked James in a certain spot that made my brother shut up and double over.

The man shrugged. "It's not really any of your business. But anyway we will be interviewing each of you personally until we find out which one of you has the item we're looking for."

"And if we don't?" The stupid question came from Jace.

The man shrugged as if what he was about to say was no big deal, "We kill you."

_Albus, are you okay? _James asked in my head,

_Quit asking me that. I already told you I'm fine._

_I know. I'm just… I didn't mean to get you shot._

_ It's fine. Just try not to get yourself shot too. That won't help anyone. _

_ You know it actually might. _I could tell by James' tone of voice that he had a plan and he was thinking hard about it.

I didn't even have to ask what the plan was. _You are not risking your life to be a distraction. _

_ Think about it. I distract them and then you attack him from behind. Or get a hold of the wands or- _

_ James, no. I have a plan and it doesn't involve anyone's possible death. _

And so I told James my plan. He liked it a lot. Despite the fact that I didn't really trust James' judgment on this type of thing, having his approval made me feel better. Like the plan actually had a twenty percent chance of working appose to five.

"Let's start these interviews," the man decided. "Albus, you can go first."

Time to put my act on. "I… I … I can't… do it," I gasped. I tried to fill my voice with as much pain as possible.

The man with the gun pointed it at me. I gulped in fear but tried to focus on the pain in my foot instead. "Don't do it, Grayson. We need him alive."

That worried me. They needed me alive? For what? But I completely ignored them and just groaned clutching my foot.

"Fine, Potter, we'll deal with you later," Grayson sneered. "James Potter, you're up."

_Please don't be reckless._ I begged my brother.

James didn't reply to me in my head but he gave me a grin that told me he had heard me and chose to ignore every word I said.

Unfortunately Grayson and the other man didn't leave the room to conduct these "interviews." If they had I could have communicate my plan with Alice who hopefully would've had a better one up her sleeve.

It seemed Grayson had made sure to keep the interviews as far from the other kids as possible. But he didn't seem too worried about me hearing. Probably thought I was in too much pain to focus. Good, it meant my plan was working.

"James, how are you doing today?" asked Grayson.

James cocked his head to the side. "Hmm, being held hostage by Psycho and Crazy on my brother's wedding day? Not my best day no."

I could see the gun twitch in Grayson's hand. It seemed he was the more aggressive one. He was definitely the leader and it seemed the other man was there to keep him under control.

"Don't sass a man with a gun," Grayson warned.

James grinned and put his feet up on the chair next to him. "You'll find that I don't fancy following orders."

I felt nervous and tense. How could my brother be so calm? They had a gun on him. He knew what a gun did, didn't he? That thing would easily kill him.

They kept asking James pointless questions. How old he was, what year he was at Hogwarts, what his favorite activity was. And with each answer James got bolder and bolder. Sometimes Grayson dropped his voice so low I couldn't hear him but James would always respond loudly.

Finally Grayson sighed and turned to his partner. "I'm done with him, can I shot him now?"

James grinned very widely. "You see that's the best part about this. You can't kill us. You need us. You need to know whatever you came here for. So kill one of us, you know none of us will talk and you'll leave here with a guilty conscience and no information."

Grayson looked at his partner for a second and the man nodded. Grayson grinned. "Sit down, boy and be quiet or I'll shot the lovely Miss Longbottom. Now you wouldn't risk her life would you?"

James didn't say anything. Grayson grinned wider. "That's what I thought. Now go sit down."

For once in his life James did as he was told.

I cursed silently. They had found James' weakness. There was nothing he wouldn't do for Alice. And they could use that if they were smart enough.

But instead they just continued to conduct their interviews. They went through everyone. And soon they had actually let people go. They sent everyone away except me, James, Alice, Lily, Hugo, and Jace.

Jace tried very hard to be brave. He did. But once his big brother left he lost it. He was bawling. Right now he was currently being consoled by Alice.

"Do you know why I why you six here?" asked Grayson.

"Cause you're an arse?" came the shaky voice of Jace Corner.

With much effort Grayson ignored Jace's comment. "Because you are all suspects."

The only person who looked alarmed by this was Hugo. Lily was sitting next to him and they were leaning against each other for support. But when they said this Hugo looked like he'd been electrified. His body shook and then he went so still for a minute that I thought he might have passed out. But he moved again seconds later. Besides the look on his face- which I could only tell was not natural because I knew Hugo so well- he was fine.

"Well, let's start with you Hugo, shall we?"

And they interrogated Hugo again. This time they were harsher. Once they even hit him with the butt of the gun. Not enough to make him bleed but enough that James tried to come changing at them. Enough that I wish Grayson and what's his face would burn in hell.

And about three second after I had that thought Grayson's partner fell to the ground.

"What's wrong, Alexander?" asked Grayson abandoning his interrogation and leaning beside his partner.

"It's-it's burning!" shouted the man- Alexander.

This was when James tried to make a move. Grayson pointed the gun in his direction and let a bullet fly. It grazed Jace. Just on his arm, nothing that would kill him. But still enough that it hurt.

Alexander was still on the ground moaning. Grayson stood up and faced Lily, James, Alice and James… which meant his back was to me.

And suddenly I saw my chance. I not sure how I was able to stand up. It didn't matter, I grabbed a bottle of wine off the table and I hit Grayson over the head with it. He fell to the ground clearly knocked out.

I took the gun off him and pointed it at Alexander. It seemed the burning in his arm had stopped because he had gotten up off the ground his hands up in the air.

He really must've been dense. I was a fourteen year old wizard. What made him think that I knew how to control a gun?

But I still used his idiocy to my advantage. "You go tell your friends in the other room to abandon your mission. You give us all our wands back. And then you get the hell out of here and you never come back again, you understand? You disobey my orders and your friend here is going to have more than a headache."

He nodded and scrambled out of the room. I watched him and I gave everyone their wands back. Soon Alexander, Grayson and three other guys who were working with them were gone.

Once we met up with them, I gave the parents their wands back. They gave their respective kids hugs.

"Are you okay, Albus?" asked my father.

It wasn't until then I remembered I got shot in the foot. My dad used a healing spell but it still hurt.

"Let's go back to the burrow and give you a pain killer potion," suggested Ginny.

It sounded like the best idea I heard all day.

* * *

(James)

Everyone who was at the wedding went to the Burrow. It was crowded since we had the edition of the Longbottom, the Corners, the Finnegans, and the Thomas' but we made it work.

After they had fixed up Jace and Albus, the parents sent the kids to their rooms so they could have an adult chat.

Of course I wasn't in the room that I shared with Fred. I was with under the Invisibility Cloak spying on the parents.

The adults- including Teddy and Victorie- were seated in the living room. They didn't speak, seemed to be waiting for someone to start the conversation. Finally Uncle Ron took the initiative.

"I don't suppose anyone recognized the men?" he asked glumly.

Aunt Hermione and a few other adults snorted. "Don't you think we would've mentioned that if we had, Ronald?"

Ron shrugged. "Just trying to start an impossible conversation."

"Those men, whoever they were, shot my son," Dad said shakily.

I felt a pang of guilt knowing Albus getting shot was my fault. I had just been trying to protect him. But apparently my brother didn't need any protecting because his plan to act helpless and have Grayson forget about him worked.

As relieved that I was that everyone was safe, a part of me couldn't help but feel like it was supposed to be me. I usually came up with the idiotic plan that ended up working. But this time… it hadn't been me.

I had been distracted and missed a small part of the conversation but the next thing Teddy said brought me out of my own thoughts.

"Do you think those were the men who killed Grandpa Weasley?" he asked tensely. He seemed to be doing his best to stay calm but his hair was turning red at the very ends, something that happened when he was frustrated.

"Teddy, sweetie," Grandma Weasley whispered kindly putting a hand on his shoulder, "Your grandfather died of a heart attack."

Teddy shook her hand of his shoulder. "I'm not a child," he said. "You can tell me the truth."

"Teddy, that is-"

"No, Molly," said George. "It's time he knows the truth. It was never confirmed that Dad was killed that way."

"What happened then?" Teddy urged.

"We don't know," Harry replied. "They can't seem to quite identify it the source of his death. But…"

"But what?"

"Teddy, you have to understand we didn't tell you because we didn't want to give you or the kids any false beliefs."

"Just tell me!"

"There was traces of magic, but also signs of a heart attack. He… he could have been murdered."

Teddy shot upwards his hair began turning completely red but he didn't say anything. He sort of just stood there. And then he sat back down. His hair turned to a sad blue colour.

"I understand," he mumbled.

I didn't. I didn't understand how they could betray us like that. This was proof. Proof that Code murdered Grandpa Weasley. And they didn't tell me?

He was my grandfather, I was closest to him out of the entire family. He would've wanted me to know. But did they care? No. They only cared about themselves. They were just a bunch of selfish pricks who were set out to hurt me in any way possible.

I was about to storm in there. Start mouthing off my parents so bad my mum would wash my mouth out with soap multiple times, but I was grabbed from behind.

"Don't be an idiot," hissed Luke Thomas in my ear.

In all honesty I was surprised it was him who restrained me. Why hadn't Alice came down here to check on me yet? Or Fred?

"Let's just listen to the parents."

"-don't be an idiot, George," Mum was saying. "That's impossible."

"Despite what all of you may think James is not a mental patient," Uncle George was saying angrily. "He wouldn't just make up some stupid story for no reason."

"I'm inclined to agree with George," Uncle Ron said quietly. "Why would James urge us to believe this story if it was just a stupid prank?"

"You don't understand though. I knew the Code family," Dad insisted. "They were good people. Ryan's sister Lauren died saving James' life. His mother was a great person. They are not bad people."

I grabbed Luke's arm and turned around. I couldn't take this anymore. Couldn't take my own parents bad mouthing me. And to know that Code hadn't lied… that his sister's death was actually my fault.

"Hey, James," Luke whispered putting a hand on my shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"Do me a favour, Luke," I mumbled fighting back tears.

"Anything, James."

"Get me Alice."

"Okay, but just know that I believe you, and I'm here for you whenever you need me." He gave me a smile and then ran up the stairs.

I put my hands over my ears. I didn't need to listen to my own father trying to convince my Uncles that I had some sort of mental problem. I was sick and tired of people, including my family, accusing me of making up stories. I was not insane and the story I was telling was _not _made up.

Someone grabbed my arm. Is it weird to say that I knew it was Alice just by the way she touched me? It was like she was the only person in the world who let off a warm feeling of happiness and sunlight wherever she went.

I didn't acknowledge Alice. I was too busy trying my best not to cry.

"James, let's go outside," she whispered in my ear and led me to the door.

Once we were outside and away from the parents she looked at me. But it wasn't just any look, it was a look of concern.

"Don't," I said. "Don't give me that look. I don't need your pity, Alice. I'm fine."

"It's not pity, Jamie," she responded touching my shoulder. "I'm just making sure you're all right."

"I'm-" I began. I was going to say I'm fine, but I changed my mind. There was really no point in lying. Alice knew me inside out. She wouldn't fall for it. "I'm feeling sorry for myself again."

Alice sighed. "Do you want Honest Alice or Reassuring Alice?"

I thought about it for a minute. Alice always told me what I wanted to hear. She knew if she told me what I needed to hear I would lash out. But right now… I was done hiding from the truth. I just nodded but Alice could tell I wanted to hear the truth.

"You need to start being James Potter again," she said.

"I wasn't aware I was anyone else the moment," I replied with a hint of annoyance in my voice.

"James, when we were younger you never thought about yourself. It was too much. And now you think too much about yourself. I'm not going to say not everything's about you, because I know you know that already. I'm going to say stop blaming yourself for everything."

I smiled a little. "Sometimes you are the most helpful person in the world."

Alice smiled. "Only sometimes?"

* * *

(Code)

It wasn't fair.

He got to go on living his life, being _happy. _It's like he didn't even care. He was so full of himself, he couldn't even consider the feelings of others once in his life.

"What are you obsessing over now?" asked my little sister as she sat on the couch and watched me pace.

I just glared at her.

"Ooh let me take a guess… is it getting a girl to go on a date with you? Or whether or not you made the Quidditch team? Or… wait a second," her tone went from very eager to very sarcastic, "You're not a normal teenage boy. The only thing you ever worry about is James Potter."

"Shut up, Claire."

"You know what I find funny?" she said putting her elbows on her knees and resting her head in her hands. "I think it's hilarious that you want revenge against this boy and you've had so many opportunities to kill him but you haven't. For heaven's sake, Ryan, you slept in the same dormitory as him for two years."

"I don't want to kill him. If that was my main goal I would have done it a long time ago. No, I want him to suffer like I did. And once we find the damn wand and give it to you know who I can make that happen."

"Sometimes Ryan you are such an idiot."

"Care to explain why?" I asked though I really didn't care.

"Getting the wand can take who knows how long. It might be years before you could get your revenge that way. But in the mean time you could do something that actually makes sense. Deprive James of what he took from you." When I just stared at my sister blankly she gave a way too exaggerated sigh. "How can you not get this? Kill his sister just like he killed yours."

My sister was an idiot. But sometimes she was an idiot with a great plan.

* * *

**A/N: **So did you enjoy this chapter?

1: What do you think? Any predicts or questions or suggestions PM me or review.

2: So sorry I'm late again but at least it's only a day this time, right? Hopefully updates will be every ten days now. So nest update.. Monday November Tenth.

3: Question of the chapter (which doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the chapter): What do you think of Albus right now? I've been developing him a little but I'd really appreciate if you guys had any suggestions to make his character more interesting.

4: I'm not sure if I made it clear enough but Albus' plan was to pretend to make Grayson and Alexander forget about him due to his injury. He was acting like a baby on purpose so that Grayson and Alexander wouldn't hesitate to turn their backs on him. Make sense? Good.

Questions to leave you with: Who were those men? Why were they interviewing the children? Why did Hugo have what seemed to be a mental breakdown? Did Grandpa Weasley really have a heart-attack? How will James deal with this news? Will he take Alice's advice and stop feeling sorry for himself? Will Ryan Code ever get a life and give up on his revenge? Will he follow Claire's advice?

(I'm going to stop doing quotes just from books and expand it to movies, TV shows, and quotes by famous people).

"I know what it's like to be afraid of you own mind," Spencer Reid, Criminal Minds.

-Monkeywoman14


	5. Running the Mile

Chapter 4: Running the Mile

*A fair warning that there is talk about violence in this chapter. If you wish not to read that PM me and I will sum up the chapter for you or you can simply not read the last half. You'll be able to tell when it's about to get intense.*

* * *

(Hugo)

The trip was hectic. People running into each other, screaming and yelling and arguing. It took five minutes to break up the fight between Fed and James about God know what. But that was normal. The not normal thing, the thing that was bothering everyone, was the one person who was supposed to bring order to this crazy family.

Grandpa Weasley.

It wasn't the same without him, it really wasn't.

I didn't really know what to do. I was already packed. My stuff was in one of the many cars borrowed from the Ministry. So I just sat on the steps and reflected on life.

One of the main things on my mind was Sarah Victorian. Lily's social enemy. Also my current crush. I had told Lily once, while playing a game of truth or dare, but I don't think she knew I was serious.

Being third years we were finally allowed to legally go to Hogsmeade. This would be my chance to ask Sarah out. But… she was so perfect. Perfect light brown hair, beautiful brown eyes, a soft innocent face. I could understand what Lily disliked about her, she was the daughter of a rich family. She acted a bit snobby at times but in all honesty I found it cute.

Suddenly a figure plopped down beside me. It was James.

"There's something I learned something on the weekend," James began. I might've made a joke about James hating learning except he sounded so serious. So I shut my mouth and listened. "Until now I haven't been sure what to do with it. Now I realize there's no way I can justify keeping it from you, Hugh."

"What is it?" I asked.

James didn't say anything for a second. "I'm not going to just tell you this Hugo. I need to know if you want to know this."

"James just tell me." My cousin was starting to scare me. James was never serious. Especially around me.

"What I'm about to tell you might- no, it will hurt you. Badly. But the hurt of not knowing… that might be worse. And no matter what you can't tell Lily."

"What? Why?"

"Because she can't know. Not yet. Promise me you won't tell her until I say you can."

Under regular circumstances I would never agree to that. But the look of James' face, he was pleasing with me, begging me. So I said, "Okay."

"Grandpa Weasley… didn't die from a heart attack."

"How'd he die?" I whispered nervously, and eagerly at the same time.

"It was staged to look like a heart attack. But there were traces of magic!"

"Traces?" I repeated. "From what spell?"

"I don't know the rest Hugo. But you want to hear my guess? You know how the parents didn't let us come to the funeral? I think that's because there was no body to burry. They didn't want us finding out."

"What do you mean?"

"There were traces of magic. But they don't know which spell. Which could mean two things. Either the spell is so old, so rare, that they didn't know what it was. Or they couldn't do any further searches because the body is gone."

It hit me. "You think whoever killed Grandpa Weasley has his body right now?"

James nodded solemnly. "I'm sorry, Hugo. I really am. But… we were closest to him and I didn't feel right knowing and not letting you know."

"But… why? What's the point of snatching the body back?" I just didn't get it. And James was right, it was better knowing, but how helpful was knowing when I didn't understand?

"I dunno who or why, Hugo. I really don't and I promise you if I find out I will tell you. And then I will kill that person."

"Thank you, James," I said quietly.

"No, problem, but uh…" James stared at me for a minute. His gaze made me nervous. There was way too much concern in his eyes, maybe even a little bit of pity.

"Why're you staring at me?" I asked, not unkindly.

"I know out of the family we're not the closest… but sometimes it's better when you're not too close… so if you ever need someone to talk too know I'm here for you okay?"

I was positive he was talking about my outburst at the wedding. I really didn't want to talk about it. Lily had brought it up a few times but I just brushed her off. The problem was I didn't know what had happened and I didn't want anyone worrying about me.

But maybe that's exactly what James meant. We were cousins but we weren't as close as Lily and I were. The only thing we shared was all those times it had been me and James against Lily and Albus in Quidditch. Perhaps he wouldn't judge me and worrying about me the same way Lily would.

"Listen James I don't really know what happened back there. Just that I blacked out for a second… except it was really blacking out because it wasn't black. It was dark and then there was a bright red light and I woke up with Goosebumps feeling cold."

James nodded and didn't say anything for a moment. "If it's any consolation that happens to me too. You'll be okay Hugo. If you need anyone to talk to again… about anything I'm all ears."

"Thanks, James. I'll keep that in mind."

James nodded again, he was about to turn away before he looked at me again. "Hugo?"

"Yeah?" I replied.

"I'm sorry… for everything." His hazel eyes held the gaze of my brown ones then he smiled sadly and left to continue packing.

* * *

"Where is he?" she asked over and over again. "What if he didn't come?"

"Relax, okay?" I said somewhat annoyed though also a tad worried myself. "We asked Marlo to look after him. If he wasn't okay, Marlo would have told us."

"Yes, but-"

Lily didn't finish her sentence because at that moment she saw Jacob. She bolted in his direction and I followed. Though I would never admit it I might've been just as relieved as her to see him.

Jacob was standing watching us with a grin on his face. Lily crashed into him and I could tell there were many things wrong. For one thing Lily's hands wrapped all around his body and then some. There was no way he was a healthy weight. Though he was smiling I could see him wince as she hugged him. And he was definitely leaning on one leg more than the other.

"Uh, Lily, Uncle Harry is calling you," I lied.

Lily gave Jacob a squeeze and ran off in the direction of Uncle Harry.

"Hi, Hugo," Jacob said warily. It seemed he wasn't sure whether I had got rid of Lily so we could have our own reunion or if I had wanted to chastise him.

"Jacob, what happened to you?" was all I said.

Jacob was good at hiding his emotions. But for some reason he didn't try. Perhaps that was how desperate he was to tell someone.

"He did things, Hugo. He beat me up more than usual. He starved me. And…" Jacob took a big breath, "He locked me in the closet for days."

It seemed like there was more that he wanted to say but at that moment Lily came back.

There was something about Jacob that seemed to make my cousin go crazy. It was like her brain melted to mush whenever he was around. She looked like a little kid who had just met their favorite movie star.

She acted like that for most of the train ride. Towards the end she had become more normal. But that was only because Louis and Liam came in and the former had started to make fun of her.

It was a relief when we got to Hogwarts. It felt like returning home. Not that I didn't love my actual home.

Jacob seemed really anxious. He had been looking through the line of first years boarding the boat.

I leaned close to him and whispered, "Your sister?"

He nodded but did say anything further. That only made me curious. Clearly by the expression he was wearing Jacob and his sister didn't get along.

It was only a half an hour later before we were sitting in the Great Hall waiting for the sorting to begin.

"Your Dad's not here," I whispered to Frank.

"I know," he whispered back. "He's not coming until a little later. Urgent business he had to deal with."

"Doesn't the headmaster have to be here for the sorting ceremony?

"Yeah, but Dad's not the Headmaster."

"Then who is?"

Frank didn't have a chance to answer my question because at that moment tiny Professor Flitwick stood.

"Welcome to Hogwarts!" he squeaked. "First off I would like you to welcome our newest teacher Mrs. Malfoy!"

There was a round of very confused applause. Mrs. Malfoy? Was that Lucius' wife? Or his sister? Draco didn't have a sister did he?

"And we'd like to welcome our new caretaker Mr. Bower!"

"What happened to Mr. Hippo?" shouted a voice from the Gryffindor table that was surely James.

"I am proud to announce that Mr. _Joe _is our new History of Magic teacher."

Now there were quite a few voices of protest. I could see Fred and James standing on the benches yelling their protests as Alice tried to pull them down.

"My brother is an idiot," both Roxanne and Lily muttered under their breaths. They looked at each other and quickly looked away.

It was sad. Just over a year ago they would've laughed and shared stories about James and Fred' idiocy that we had all heard a hundred times. It was repetitive, but that's what I liked about it. It was familiar. It was almost like a foreign world since Jacob had been brought into out lives.

"Well," Flitwick said a bit bitterly. "That was a warm welcome. Anyway, let us welcome our first years and let the sorting begin."

Teddy led the first years into the Great Hall and the hat began to sing. I didn't listen to the song. Instead I looked at the row of first years.

"Care to bet on which house is called first?" Liam whispered from behind me at the Hufflepuff table.

I grinned. "Gryffindor or Ravenclaw," I said.

Liam smiled back. "Prepare to lose a galleon my friend."

Teddy was called the first name, "Axel, Mary."

"RAVENCLAW!" The hat shouted almost immediately.

I grinned even wider as Liam swore under his breath.

Sooner than I expect I heard, "Cadler, Jasmine!"

Jacob couldn't seem to decide whether he wanted to watch his sister or look down at his empty plate. It seemed Lily was trying to comfort him but was failing miserably.

The hat took a long time with its decision. After about two minutes I heard Jacob whispering under his breath. I thought he was saying 'Gryffindor, Gryffindor.' But after another minute I realized he was saying 'Not Gryffindor, Not Gryffindor.'

The students in the Great Hall were getting annoyed. The sorting took nearly five minutes before the hat shouting "Gryffindor!"

Everyone in the entire hall cheered simply because she was finished. Everyone but Jacob. He just sat there shaking his head.

I tried to ask him what the deal was between them but he just whispered, "I owe you an explanation, but not now."

"Finnegan, Theodore."

I looked up to see my friend being sorted.

The hat didn't take long at all before it decided "Hufflepuff."

Theodore grinned nervously as he took his seat. Luke Thomas made room so Theo could sit beside him.

There were more names called. A couple new Gryffindors to join Jasmine. Some Hufflepuffs, quite a few new Ravenclaws this year. A lot of new Slytherins.

Emily and Katie Thomas joined Ravenclaw to their brother's shock.

And with Xavier, Phillip being sorted into Gryffindor the sorting ended.

"And that concludes our sorting," cheered Flitwick. "There are a few things I'd like to say but it can wait until after you eat."

I devoured everything in sight. And I couldn't help but notice that Jacob was the opposite. He hardly ate anything. I knew why, you can't eat a lot after being starved, it would make him puke. But Lily wasn't really helping him by trying to shove more food in his face.

Luckily for him Flitwick began speaking. "I hope you all enjoyed the food but now it's time to get serious. As most of our older students know the Forbidden Forest is off limits. Any student who goes there will receive detention."

James, Fred, and Josh grinned. Flitwick gave them a pointed look. "Also several items from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes have been band, please see the bulletin board outside Mr. Bower's office for the complete list. Now I will you to direct your attention to professor Bryson."

Professor Bryson the Muggle Studies Teacher and Head of Hufflepuff stood. "Welcome back to Hogwarts students! I have an announcement. As you know every year we do a muggle activity. Last year we had the play which was a huge success. This year we've decided to do a school wide game of Assassin."

There was looks of confusion from the half bloods and pure bloods and looks of excitement from the muggle-borns. Personally I had heard of the game but couldn't remember it fully.

Bryson shushed the crowd and continued. "It will take place tomorrow evening. In order to prepare, classes will not start until the day after tomorrow."

At this all the students clapped enthusiastically except maybe a few Ravenclaws who looked crestfallen.

"That's all for now. You are dismissed. First years follow your prefects to the Common Rooms."

When we stood up I gave Jacob a pointed look. He understood that it meant I wanted to talk to him tonight, he nodded and walked away.

"Hey, Hugo."

It was sort of stupid but the voice almost made my heart stop.

_You're an idiot Hugo. She said hi. It doesn't mean anything. Just be a normal human being for once. _

I smiled. "Sarah, how are you? We haven't talked in like forever."

"I know. How's your summer been?"

"Good, good," I said politely because you didn't tell your crush that all you could think of over the summer was you dead Grandfather. And how there was a small hope he might be alive. "How was yours?"

"Great. My father took me and my sister all around the world. We visited every continent. Man, it's beautiful, the world that we live in."

That's why I liked Sarah. She was so down to Earth. But it was what Lily hated about her. In Lily's opinion she was fake, and stuck up. I could see it I suppose, she bragged, but she didn't do it on purpose and besides everyone has flaws.

I smiled to myself as I remembered the conversation Alice and I had in the summer. _Nobody's perfect._

"I know. It's amazing how many things are around us. And the differences and similarities in the different cultures of the world."

And we just stated chatting. Talking about interesting things, the world, the geological aspects and the cultural aspects of it. That led to a conversation on war.

"I just don't understand it," I muttered. "How can muggles just fight like that? So violently. For no reason."

Sarah kicked a pebble as we walked. Somehow we had ended up outside, I don't really remember when. "Well, it's the same thing we do isn't it? We fight over what? Blood status? Just that their fighting over the colour of their skin and we're fighting over the 'cleanliness' of our blood."

She was right of course. But it was weird when you really thought about it how stupid the reasons for all these deaths were.

"It makes me want to make a difference, you know?" Sarah's voice was suddenly firm, and determined. "I'll work as hard as I can to make sure that I do something that will change this world."

I looked at her. "You're going to be someone special one day Sarah. I just know it. Everyone will know the name Sarah Victorian."

She grinned. "Well I suppose it does have a nice ring to it?"

It wasn't until half an hour past curfew that I arrived back in the Gryffindor Tower. Sarah and I had spent almost a full two hours talking. It was great. And I didn't make myself look like a total loser. It was like she actually wanted to talk to me.

I was walking up the stairs to the dormitory when it hit me. I opened the door quickly and saw Frank already asleep in his bed and Jacob lying staring at the ceiling with his curtains opened.

"I'm a horrible friend," I whispered, so not to wake Frank.

Jacob shook his head. "No. You gave me time to think."

I sighed, relieved that Jake wasn't mad at me for forgetting about the talk we were going to have. "Time to think about what?"

"That talking is a very bad idea." Jacob turned and faced the wall.

I didn't say anything for a minute. I had to push him, he couldn't deal with whatever he had going on alone. But it felt like I was invading his privacy by forcing him to talk with me.

Slowly I walked towards his bed. "Jacob, I know I wasn't the nicest to you last year. I was just jealous of you hanging out with Lily so much. I'm sorry for that. But I want you to know I'm still your friend and I've been told I'm one heck of a listener."

"I… I dunno if I can. Hugo, I don't want to relive it."

"Jake," I said so quietly, so gently. "I won't make you talk but would you rather let it all go with me by your side or have it haunt your thoughts and deal with it alone?"

When he didn't reply I touched his shoulder. "Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is admit you're scared and admit you want help."

Jacob stayed silently and with an internal sigh I began to rise. But then so quietly I almost didn't hear it, "I need help."

I smiled. "Good. See, all you need to do is admit it and then suddenly you're not alone."

Jacob shook his head slightly. "You might be here reliving it with me, but the original pain is still there and there's nothing you can do about that."

I didn't know what to say to that, but somehow the right words came out of my mouth without me really thinking about them, "People say time heals the deepest wounds. I disagree. The pain will always be there but if you ever want it to lessen you have to be willing to let go of it."

For the first time Jacob looked into my eyes. "He humiliated me."

I didn't have to ask who 'he' was. "Tell me how."

Jacob didn't speak for a minute. He looked so… fragile. He looked younger than fourteen as if we were travelling back into the past to when this all started.

"When… when he found out I was a wizard he resented me. He… he wanted to make me pay. So… he, he made me feel worthless. Made me feel like being a wizard was a disease."

"We have all night. Tell me everything," I urged.

Maybe it was something in my tone. But something in Jacob's eyes changed like he was suddenly determined to prove he was strong enough to do this. Strong enough to face his bother even if it was just mentally. "My life was never easy. But once I discovered I was a wizard both my parents and Jonathan made it absolute hell.

"When I told him my father took off his belt and whipped me. I was only seven! But he didn't stop. He kept going and with every hit he made sure I knew that this- being a wizard- was nothing to be pleased about. That this means I am worthless.

He left me on the floor covered in blood, crying. But… magically the blood, the scars just disappeared. But the pain didn't. I could still feel it but there was no proof it was there."

Jacob looked up for me as if he wanted my approval. I nodded, silently telling him to keep going.

"Well, that was the last straw for my Dad. He decided then and there I wasn't to live in his house anymore. But Jonathan begged him to let me stay. I never heard the whole conversation. I thought it was because my brother loved me but that was not it. He just wanted to use me.

"One of the first things he did to me was cause a wasp's nest fall on my head. I couldn't escape and I endured sting after sting. After that my parents reluctantly sent me to the hospital. They told the doctors that I had accidentally disturbed the wasps and they attacked me. I was confused and Jonathan had told me no matter what to not tell the truth. So I didn't. I let them believe the lie. And… well my life went on like that for a while. Jonathan would do something horrible to me, and then I would go to the hospital and recite whatever lie Jonathan told me to."

Jacob stopped. He put his head in between his knees and didn't look up. I put an arm around him.

"Hey, it's okay."

"It's not okay though," Jacob continued his head still hidden. "Because maybe if I told the truth, maybe I would have been free. But once I was old enough to understand, to understand that my parents didn't love me and my brother was a sadistic sociopath… it was too late. Because he wasn't so bad at one point. He was just learning. But then he got older and he began to develop one hell of an imagination."

Jacob stopped again. He was hardly breathing. And… I don't know how I can explain this but I heard the tears in his breathing.

"Don't be ashamed to cry."

Jacob looked up at me then and I noticed his blue-green eyes were shining with tears. "I once told Lily I never cried after the time my father had killed the dog I brought home from school .That was a lie. I never cried for emotional reasons after that. But Jonathan could always make me cry. He did horrible things to me."

He turned away again and this time I knew it was because he was embarrassed. "Jacob, you can tell me," I urged. Then suddenly it dawned on me. "You never talk about this because you don't want to see that look."

Jacob looked at me. "You don't want to see that look of pity in their eyes when you tell them what a horrible person your brother is." Then I smiled wryly. "I promise I won't make you feel better."

Jacob smiled back, it was a small sad smile but it was still a smile. Then he continued,

"Well it didn't get really bad until I was around nine. My sister had told me that she discovered she was a wizard. I was worried sick for her. But she didn't seem to understand. She was thrilled, she thought our parents would understand. For some reason my brother was never interested in her. He sort of made sure she didn't even know about what was going on. She was so young, after all, it wasn't hard to trick her."

This was what I had been curious about. I knew Jacob was abused, he had told me that himself, though this was the first time he had gone into such detail, but he never explained his relationship with his sister.

"So once my bother found out she was a wizard… he took it out on me. I'm not sure if she told him I knew or if he just found out himself but that's when it started to get bad. Jonathan suddenly had a new power over me. And it was Jasmine.

"He'd beat me and if I threatened to tell anyone he'd told me he'd kill her. And so that's why I never told. He… he had the one person I cared about in his hands.

"So I did whatever he said. Usually my day consisted of doing all of Jonathan's chores, sometimes he even got me to do his homework-"

I almost laughed. "Isn't your brother like five years older than you? Why did he want a nine year old doing his homework?"

Jacob smiled a little too. "I dunno. I guess it was just another one of his ways to make sure he knew that he could do whatever he wanted. Make me do whatever he wanted. What was worse was what he did to me afterwards. After I'd walk my sister home from school Jonathan would ask me how my day went. It became a routine. He ask, I'd reply 'It was bad' and he'd say 'well it's about to get a whole lot worse.' That's when he'd hurt me. It hurt so badly. Then the he'd lock me in the closet and leave me in there all night, sometimes for days if it was a weekend."

I saw a tear slowly slide down Jacob's face. I did my best not to show any pity and it seemed to work because Jacob didn't tell me to go away, he just kept talking.

"I developed a severe fear of small spaces. It even took me a while to get used to sleeping in this bed, with the curtains the way they are. And he would always use that fear against me. If I didn't do exactly what he said, it was the closet for me.

I think I stopped being able to handle it when Jonathan showed up at my school one day. He shoved me in a locker… and locked it. It was an unused area on the third floor so I didn't get rescued until near the end of the day. When I did get let out I was crying… a lot and basically having a mental breakdown. That was the first time Jonathan had publicly humiliated me. I was nine and nine year olds are pretty mean. My entire class teased me. And I just couldn't get over it.

"Jonathan noticed that to. And for him it was just another way for him to manipulate me. He started embarrassing me constantly. Once he made me wear a dress to school. One day I said I wouldn't listen to him anymore, wouldn't let me embarrass me at school. And you know what happened after that?"

It seemed like Jacob actually wanted me to respond so I said, "What happened, Jacob?"

"It was the first time he hurt my sister. He locked me in the closet but he made sure I could listen. Made sure I could hear her screams." He looked down and I heard him sniffle.

"The thing is I almost felt like she deserved it. She was always so careless and every time she did something wrong it would affect me. I would get the beating, trying to protect her. I thought after that maybe she'd understand what I went through every day and be a bit more considerate.

"But she wasn't. It just made her hate me. And I hated myself. But… I just couldn't do it anymore. Couldn't live like this when I knew I had an escape. That's when I went to Hogwarts. I was there, I had all the freedom I could want… and I gave it up. Just for her. I couldn't be there knowing she was home alone with him. So I went back home. She didn't care though, never forgave me. Not for getting her beaten the first time and especially not for leaving her alone."

He paused for a very long time. It was only after two whole minutes he spoke again, "This summer was the worst one since I started Hogwarts," he whispered. "Usually Jonathan would take me to the hospital after he broke all my bones but this time he just let me live with the pain. And since I had no medical treatment my injuries were worse than usually. I kept blacking out when he'd try and attack me. I guess it's not as fun for him when I'm not screaming and struggling. So… he just locked me in the closet for a whole month, Hugo, a month!"

There was so much venom in his voice so much hatred but beneath that badly hidden was the fear. The sheer terror of the memory. It made me want to hug Jacob and tell him everything would be okay but I knew that was the exactly what he didn't want.

Instead I just asked, "How did you survive?"

"I… I didn't really. Jonathan brought me food and water every once in a while but besides that I never saw sun. I'm not really sure how to explain it. It was like I was already dead. Like there was no life outside the tiny closet. I almost forgot what living was like. All I knew was…" Jacob swallowed "was the fear I was feeling."

It might've been the first time I had ever heard Jacob straight out admit he was scared. The brave Jacob, the fearless Jacob had finally admitted that he too was scared.

I shook my head. "It's… it's not stupid Jacob. Don't… don't look ashamed like that. There is no reason to feel ashamed because of fear."

"No," he agreed hesitantly, "But there is shame in being too weak stick up for yourself."

"There's shame in picking on someone who can't stand up for themselves. Your brother should learn that. But there is no shame, only pride, in being able to face him for so long."

Jacob thought about that for a minute before he smiled a little. "I guess you're right."

"Tell me Jacob, what made you keep going all those years?"

Jacob shrugged. "I'm not even sure. I guess it was mainly for my sister. I knew if I wasn't there to be Jonathan's punching bag then it would be her. And… I just couldn't let that happen." He paused. "But I did. You know I don't blame her for hating me. I left her, Hugo. There's nothing she could have done deserved that. Nothing."

When I responded I spoke softly, "Nothing you did made you deserve that. I hope you know that."

"Sometimes I feel like I should still be there. Like I don't deserve to be here after I left her all alone with him. I don't even know why I did it really, and whenever I do think of something the reason's never good enough."

"Jacob…"

"No, Hugo, I'm serious. I honestly felt reluctant coming back. I deserve to be punished-"

"You've been punished enough in your life, Jacob."

"I'm a horrible person. And what's even worse is that I blame Jonathan for it. I don't deserve you or Lily or Roxy-"

"If Lily heard you say that she'd slap you," I interrupted.

For the first time Jacob gave a genuine laugh. "I guess you're right."

"Listen, I can't say I understand what you're going through but at least now I'm aware of it. Now I can help you. And right now you need to talk to your sister."

Before I had even finished my sentence Jacob was protesting. "No, absolutely not."

"And why is that?"

"Because…"

I smiled. "Are you scared, Jacob?" I taunted.

Jacob glared at me in a playful way. "No. But you don't know my sister. She's tough. There's no way she's forgave me yet and she might very well hex my ass into next year if I approach her."

My smile widened. "So you're telling me that not only are you scared, but you're scared of a first year? Boy, wait until I tell everyone. The great Jacob Cadler scared of a first year girl."

Finally Jacob grinned too. A real grin. "You better watch out Weasley. I could hex _your _ass into next year."

"Not so sure about that Cadler. I could beat you any day, any game, any time."

Jacob though for a second. "Care to bet on that?"

"Name it."

"Tomorrow's game of Assassin. Whichever one of us loses first…" suddenly Jacob's grin widened. "Hugo, have you ever heard of 'running the mile?'"

I laughed. "What's that? Let me guess something to do with running around the castle looking stupid?"

"Yep. Something a bunch of Jonathan's friends did when they got drunk at our house one time. They would dare each other to run around the block in dumb looking costumes."

"So the winner gets to pick a costume that the loser has to run around the castle in?"

"Yep. What do you say, deal or no deal?"

I knew this was a horrible idea- after all I didn't even remember what Assassin was- but it had cheered Jacob up, so I ignored the voice in my head telling me not to accept. "Deal."

* * *

**A/N: **Hope you enjoyed that chapter!

1: Again I can express how sorry I am for updating so late. I've never told you guys this (mostly cause there's never been any point) but I have really thick, curly, and for lack of better term, black people hair. (Not to be racist or anything!) and so I was up for like 36 hours straight trying to brush and braid it. Not fun. So this is liek teh first opportunity I've had to actually edit this chapter. Oh, and the next chapter will be updated on November 20th. Or around then at least.

2: I hope the with Jacob talking to Hugo scene wasn't too intense. And while I was proof reading it i noticed something. Hugo and Jacob were really friendly. Like a little too friendly if you know what I mean. But I just want to make it clear that neither of them swing that way, they're just good friends. Okay? I don't mean to cause any problems and I don't hate but in my story those two will never be together. Anyway, I hope it wasn't too much detail on Jacob's life before Hogwarts. Believe it or not I cut some things out, worrying you might find it too intense.

3: Question of the chapter: What fandoms are you guys a part of? And in case any of you don't know what fandoms are it basically means what book(s)/movie(s)/tv shows (s) do you guys read/watch and love with a passion. for me it's Harry Potter (duh), Mortal Instruments, Percy Jackson, Gone, Twilight, and Maze Runner for books and Criminal Minds and Supernatural for Tv shows.

Is James right about Grandpa Weasley? What was the flash of red light Hugo saw during his black out? Will Lily ever stop obsessing over Jacob? What will happen between Jacob and his sister? Why did Jacob chose to open up to Hugo? How will this effect their friendship? Who will win the bet?

"It has been said 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wound remains. In time the mind protecting its sanity covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone," Rose Kennedy.

-Monkeywoman14.


	6. I Volunteer for Possible Death

Chapter Five: I Volunteer for Possible Death

(Hugo)

The next day at breakfast everyone was gathered in the Great Hall waiting for Professor Bryson to explain the rules of Assassin.

"Let's start with the rules of the game," she began. "In this game you'll work with people in your house and in your year. The point is to 'assassinate' all the other players. Last one standing gets their house 500 points and party next weekend in the Great Hall."

"What's the point of a party monitored by teachers," James muttered from a few seats down.

From beside him Alice smacked him over the head. "I hope you don't plan on getting drunk because I draw the line when it comes to taking care of a wasted James. You're bad enough sober."

Everyone who heard that giggled before turning our attention back to Bryson.

"In order to assassinate each other you'll be assigned a weapon. There will be someone who tags people simply by touching them, three people who will throw large bouncy balls, someone will get to use a water gun, two people who get to use fake bow and arrows, two people will get to use a nerf gun- we'll explain what that is- and then one person who will be the spell caster. The spell caster isn't allowed to assassinate anyone but they can disable people. Using harmless hexes. If we catch anyone using a hex that harms people- anything more than a leg-locker curse- your house will lose 250 points."

There were a few groans.

"A teacher will be assigned to each year to explain a bit more and answer any further questions."

Victorie was holding a sign that said third years so I followed her.

"Are you ready to lose, Weasley?" whispered Jacob beside me.

"I'm not the one who'll be running the mile," I replied.

Lucy looked at us with narrowed eyes. "Are you two up to something?"

Simultaneously we said, "Why ever would you think that?"

Lucy glared and we both grinned. Before we knew it all the third years were gathered in the charms classroom.

"Something you should know that Professor Bryson didn't mentioned is that you can't assassinate anyone you want. See, Gryffindors catch Ravenclaws, Ravenclaws catch Hufflepuffs, Hufflepuffs catch Slytherins and Slytherins catch Gryffindors. Except spell-caster who can attack anyone. You'll all be given a shirt to wear with your house on it so there's no confusion. Any questions?"

Victorie answered all the questions. I got all the answers I needed. The game would be played inside the castle. All off-limits rooms were locked.

"Okay. Gryffindors over here. Slytherins in that corner. Hufflepuffs in that back room. And Ravenclaws go out in the hall. You can meet and decide any plans you have and who'll get which weapon.

I stood in the corner with Lucy, Frank, Lily, Roxy and Jacob. There was ten weapons and since we had such a small year, six appose to the average of nine, some of those weapons would be left over.

"I want to catch people by tagging them," Jacob announced. I looked at him funny. Surely that was the hardest way. He'd get caught for sure. Did he want to get caught? What angle was he playing at?

Lily snorted. "We have six people Jacob and ten weapons. You can use something less dangerous."

Jacob put on a face of mock hurt. "Are you saying you don't think I'm capable of surviving this game?" Lily shook her head. "Tell you what, if I get caught before you, I'll do anything you want. Like anything. But if you get caught before me, you do my homework for a week."

Lily narrowed her eyes. Clearly, like me, she seemed to think this was some sort of trap but I knew Lily would never back down from a challenge. "You got yourself a deal, Jacob Cadler."

I decided I'd take the water gun as my weapon and while the others discussed strategy I pulled Jacob slightly aside.

"What are you doing?" I hissed.

"Whatever do you mean?" Jacob said fake innocence in his voice.

I glared. "What's your game? You pick the worst weapon and then you make a bet with Lily too? Why?"

"Ah, you see that's for me to know and you to figure out on your own. If you can." He laughed and joined the group working on strategies.

"We can attack them from behind," Frank was saying.

"Absolutely not," Jacob disagreed. "We're Gryffindors we don't play like that. Unless of course they start it. Then anything goes."

"I think I should travel with you, Jacob," Lucy said. "If anyone tries to catch you I can just use some spells against them."

"No way, Luce," Jacob disagreed. "You see Lily doesn't think I can survive. And I have to prove to her that not only can I survive but I can last much longer than her."

"Yes, Lucy, I think Jacob needs to learn his lesson," Lily said watching the person in question. "You should travel with me and Frank. That way we can use some sort of spell to make people easier to hit."

"I'll stay around you guys. Just for some extra protection," Roxy decided posing with her nerf gun.

I was nodding until I realized what this meant. "You want me to travel with Jacob?" I shook my head violently. "No, no, no, no, no. Absolutely not."

Jacob titled his head to the side using the same innocent voice he'd used earlier. "Why not, Hugh? You and me. We'll catch everybody."

I gave Lily a pleading look but she just shrugged. "I guess that means we're ready to head out."

We headed back to the Great Hall where everyone was gathering. We were one of the last groups to show up.

"Okay everyone," Bryson addressed all the students. "You get ten minutes to hide and get yourself ready before you can catch each other." Bryson frowned. "Oh yeah. Ha, I forgot. Some of the teachers might give you a little surprise in the middle of the game."

Bryson just smiled at our confused looks. "Go!" she shouted and everyone ran in different directions.

I tried to ditch Jacob right away but he followed me. "Where you going, mate? I almost lost you there."

Jacob grinned because he knew he was being annoying. I glared because at the moment I hated my best friend.

It wouldn't be long before he attempted to sabotage me. That would be the only logical reason he'd want to partner with me.

We kept running, we bumped into people a few times, and then scrambled in different directions. Some Slytherins were following us for a bit but we ended up losing them. After that I insisted on hiding. Jacob disagreed.

"They said if you don't catch at least two people your disqualified," Jacob argued. "We should get that over with."

I realized he was right and so we just walked around for a bit waiting for the bell that signalized the start of the game. Just as it rang I felt a hand on my shoulder.

My first reaction was to run, but I stopped myself. It was over. Already I had been caught. Epic fail.

But then I saw a glimpse of yellow. I turned around and realized the hand belonged to Liam. Thank Merlin, a Hufflepuff not a Slytherin.

"I had an idea," Liam said. "We can work together. It'll be much more productive. If I see any Slytherins trying to catch you, I can catch them and if you see any Ravenclaws trying to catch me you can get them."

I looked at Jacob and who shook his head slightly. I knew he didn't trust anyone, but it was just a game. And if Liam really were here to sabotage us at least both me and Jacob would die at roughly the same time.

I turned back to Liam. "Sounds like a plan."

We caught a few people. A Slytherin came really close to catching us. We caught a lot of people by using Liam as bait, drawing Ravenclaws over, then I'd use my water gun to shoot them.

Once you got tagged your shirt would start flashing rainbow, so everyone knew you were out. It made me wonder how muggles played games like this without any magic involved. I mean anyone could just cheat and say they didn't get caught.

It was about midway through the game when we encountered our first real problem.

Liam had just caught a group of three Slytherins by using Jacob and I as bait. But it turns out we missed a person.

"Hello."

I spun right around and was facing Dylan Corner. He was pointing his wand at me threateningly.

I put my hands up.

"Drop the gun, Hugo," he said.

I smiled a little at how serious Dylan sounded. He was taking this game very literally.

"I said drop it!" he snapped angrily but I could see in his eyes that he didn't mean it.

I swore under my breath, mostly just to amuse Dylan. But this was the hard part of the game, the main obstacle. The spell caster was allowed to target anyone. They couldn't get you out of the game but could use magic to do pretty much anything they want. For all I know Dylan could turn me into a pink elephant.

Jacob warning came out a minute to late. I dropped the gun at my feet and using a quick summoning charm Dylan now had possession of it.

Dylan must've read the accusation on my face because he answered my unasked question. "It's not against the rules. You can't use magic to take the weapon out of their hands, but there's nothing wrong with taking it when it's on the ground."

I glanced back and forth. What did I do now? Run and hide? No, Dylan was perfectly capable of using a jelly-legs jinx. So all I could really do was stand and await my faith.

Dylan looked behind him. "We've been friends for a long time, Hugo. So I'll be nice to you this time. Go ahead and run. You probably have about ten seconds before the Slytherins and other Ravenclaws catch up."

I considered staying and fighting them with Liam but I wasn't sure how many Claws and Slytherins we coming so I bolted. And also, I couldn't imagine Liam having perfect aim with that bow and arrow when the targets were expecting it.

Liam followed but Jacob went and chased Dylan. "Jacob!" I shouted but he was already chasing the young Ravenclaw.

Unfortunately for Dylan I understood his plan. He was expecting that if he'd run, Jacob would follow him and we'd follow Jacob, leading us into a trap. But I wasn't a complete idiot and I wasn't about to fall for that.

And so we kept running. I couldn't catch people anymore, Dylan still had my weapon, so I just stood as bait while Liam caught some Slytherins.

At one point Victorie had ran by us, she smiled at me, mouthed good luck, and ran after some fourth year Slytherins. I suppose that's what Bryson meant by surprises by the teachers along the way.

It felt like it had been about two or three hours when we heard Bryson's voice ring throughout the castle.

"There is twenty competitors left. Good luck to all houses."

I vaguely wondered if Jacob had made it this far.

This thought distracted me long enough to let a Ravenclaw get really close to us. "Liam watch out!" But it was too late. A Ravenclaw girl whose name I didn't know had already caught Liam and ran off.

I decided to make a joke out of it.

"No, Liam, you can't die on me. You can't leave me here to get assassinated."

Liam caught on and smiled sadly. "I… can't hold on."

I clutched my heart and said ever so dramatically, "I'm sorry I couldn't save you, mate, I'm sorry."

"Don't blame yourself…" and then with a very dramatic intake of breath Liam stuck his tongue out and pretended to be dead.

I let out a very fake sob. And then fell on my side laughing. Liam was doing the same.

"You gotta win, okay?" Liam said. "I mean, if Hufflepuff can't, I hope it's you."

When I was about to reply Liam's eyes widened. "There's some Slytherins around the corner. They're coming quick hide!"

And so I ran straight into the wall. Suddenly I was near the Gryffindor towers. I loved that secret passage way. It was what got me to Transfiguration class on time.

There was no one around me and no sign of movement. At least that's what I thought until I was tackled to the ground.

"Seriously what is wrong with you, Hugo?" said the voice of James on top of me. "I could have been a Slytherin!"

I grumbled, "I think I'd rather it have been a Slytherin."

James looked highly offended. "Well then I suppose I shouldn't give you this back." My cousin pulled out my water gun from behind is back.

"What how'd you get it?" I asked grabbing for it.

James held it out of my reach. "If you want it back you have to say 'James is the supreme lord of awesomeness and a peasant like me is lucky to have such an amazing cousin.'"

I rolled my eyes and repeated the words. I was used to James' massive ego by now. It was probably the hundredth time he'd told me to call him supreme lord of awesomeness.

With an approving nod James gave me back my water gun. He explained to me how he had beat Dylan in a duel in order to get that back.

"You're lucky, I usually don't stoop as low as fighting second years."

I snorted. "Dylan's really good. I think I'm lucky that he didn't end up beating you."

We walked for a bit, caught a two Ravenclaws and walked a bit more before James very suddenly pulled me into an unused hallway.

"What are we doing?" I hissed, feeling like I needed to be quiet for some reason.

"We're looking for something," James replied dismissively.

I knew not to argue with James when he got like this, into his sneaky trouble-maker mode, so I just followed him.

When we reached the end of the hall James tapped on the wall three times with his wand.

There where that had only been stone, was now a doorknob. James turned it and then we were entering an apartment. It didn't take me long to figure out who it belonged here.

When I did I felt very wrong about it. "James! We should not be here."

"Hugo, I brought you here because I figured you might want some answers too."

I looked around Teddy and Victorie's apartment. I didn't want to be here but I did want answers. I had an internal battle, like one of the ones where there was a devil and an angel on each of your shoulders. In the end devil won out.

I understood James' point. He wanted answers and so did I. It wasn't fair that they Grandpa Weasley was taken from us and it was even more unfair that none of the parents wanted to tell us what happened.

"I know your hurting James," I said. "I am too. But do you really think Teddy's going to have answers just lying around his house."

James shrugged. "I'm not looking for answers. I'm…"

I turned to James, looking away from the photo of the Weasley/Potter family I had been admiring. "What is it?"

I walked over to where he was standing right in front of the trash can and I saw it. How couldn't you, it was impossible to miss.

I gulped. "James, why does Victorie have an empty box labeled 'Pregnancy Test' in her trash can?"

* * *

(James)

Hugo and I left after we had made that interesting discovery.

"Where are we going now?" moaned Hugo as I swiftly navigated the halls.

"We're checking out Mr. Joe's office now," I replied curtly without looking back.

I didn't mean to be like that with my little cousin but the sight in Teddy's flat had aggravated me. How could Teddy not tell me? He trusted me enough to make me the best man at his wedding but not to tell me he had a kid?

I was starting to lose my patience with my so-called brother. It's like he was suddenly an adult and I was still a little kid. We were three years apart, not ten. Yet the second he graduates, he ditches me and decides to be mature. After witnessing the change in Teddy, Fred, Josh, and I had made a pact that we would never not be Marauders.

I had been so caught up in my thoughts I almost didn't see the two Ravenclaws who had snuck past us.

I used a spell that made the floor turn to ice and the Ravenclaws slipped and slid until they came to a stop at our feet.

Suddenly I recognized one of the two young people.

"Theo," I said in greeting.

Theodore Finnegan smiled at me. "Hi, James. Hi, Hugo."

Theo's friend looked at us innocently and gave us puppy-dog eyes. "Any chance you'll let us go?"

I smiled. "Sorry, kid, not a chance."

With an apologetic look Hugo shot both boys in the chest with his water gun. They flashed rainbow. Then there was an announcement.

"Congratulations, there are now only two houses left in the game. All Spell-Casters and remaining players please report to the Great Hall!"

Hugo and I high-fived and ran towards the Great Hall.

We arrived at the hall only a few minutes later. Standing there was the respective spell-casters 7 for each house, Luke Thomas, and another young Puff kid.

"You are the final contestants," Bryson said happily. "Good job. Right now I will award twenty points to each Gryffindor and Hufflepuff."

The Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors clapped.

Bryson continued, "So now comes our final showdown. The rest of the students and staff are out at the Quidditch Pitch. There you will be doing a battle to the death. And, of course, I mean death figuratively.

"Each remaining player will pick one spell caster and they will work as a team. The spell caster is allowed to use any sort of curses now, provided they do not severely and or permanently injure the victim." She said the last part while glaring at me.

"Professor Bryson, I assure you there will be no foul play on the Gryffindor side of this game," I said in a very fake innocent voice, "These Puffs however, I dunno. They seem kind of shady to me."

"Okay, James, I'll keep my eyes on them," Bryson promised. "Anyway, players here are the rules, you are out of the battle if both the spell caster and the player are unable to continue, or player lost his weapon and doesn't get it back within two minutes. After the players chose your partner we will head out to the Quidditch pitch."

As expected Hugo chose me. It made perfect sense, after all. I was an amazing duellist and we already knew we worked well together. Luke chose Louis, and the young Hufflepuff chose some kid from his year.

"Okay, let's head out."

Bryson led us out to the Quidditch pitch and told us to shake the hands of our opponents.

Louis gave me his signature goofy grin. "I wish you luck, cuz… cuzes? Is that a word? Oh, whatever. Anyway, luck to both of you, you won't need it but I wish it to you anyway."

"We won't need it because we're going to win," I responded.

"Nope, I meant no amount of luck is going to save your sorry ass today. For once the great James Potter will be humbled.

I snorted. "Care to bet on that?"

Louis shrugged. "Three galleons."

It was only after I agreed that I realized how many best I was making. Alice hadn't believed that I would be able to stay focused enough to be spell caster so I bet her five galleons I could. Fred insisted that he'd win the game, I bet him ten galleons he wouldn't. And finally I had bet Luke three galleons that Gryffindor would win. Perhaps Alice was right, I did have a gambling problem.

I was surprised when the air-horn sounded and the game began. I really needed to stop getting lost in my thoughts.

I was even more surprised when the little Puff dudes made the first move.

"Expelliarmus!" shouted the young spell caster, whose name may or may not have been Aaron.

I easily deflected the shot. Aaron's friend, Eddie, had a nerf gun for a weapon. Good, those were easy to dodge.

Luke was armed with two balls. He gave some sort of signal to Louis and Louis began levitating one of the balls. He waved his wand around and the ball moved along with it. Louis got distracted teasing the young Puffs. I took this chance and shot a body bind hex at Louis.

I would have used a simple disarming spell but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Maybe it was superstitious and stupid but every time I used the spell that had saved my dad on so many different occasions, bad things happened. It had almost cost Albus his life at the wedding. I wasn't prepared to risk anything like that again, based of superstition or not.

Louis focused again and threw the ball in our direction as he dodged the body bind hex.

"You'll have to do better that that Jamie!" he shouted as I dodged the ball.

"So will you," I replied. "I'm just getting warmed up!"

And that battle raged on. The bad thing about having a water gun for a weapon was that Hugo constantly had to fill up. It wasn't easy to cover him and myself against four duellists. But of course being James Potter I managed it.

For the longest time we'd been using spells, and shooting our respective weapons. This was too easy. No one was winning and no one was gaining any head-way whatsoever.

That's when an idea hit me.

"Hugo, do you trust me?" I asked my cousin as I ducked a stunner.

"Not usually when you have to ask," Hugo answered honestly as he used his water gun to hit one of Luke's balls right back at him.

"Well, kid, you're gonna half to. Follow my lead."

And with that I charged at Louis and Luke.

For a second they were just confused but it only took them a second to react. Louis shot a body bind hex at me. I ducked it. I just needed to get a little closer…

It was a good thing Aaron and Eddie were idiots. I would have been "dead" by now if they had the sense to try and shoot me from behind. Instead they were cowering behind Luke and Louis.

As I got closer to my destination I realized this plan was stupid. But too late to back out now.

"Impetus!" I shouted pointing my wand at Hugo. My cousin went flying through the air. It took him a moment but he understood the plan.

From up high he started shooting his water gun. While he did that I easily petrified Aaron, which distracted Eddie, allowing Hugo to attack him with the water gun.

The only problem with my genius plan was that Hugo was now falling at an alarming rate.

I thought fast. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Hugo was now floating. This gave Louis and Luke a chance to pelt him with the two balls. There was nothing I could do except lower Hugo towards the ground.

Luckily my cousin was a better beater than we all thought. He used his water gun as a bat again and was hitting the balls back towards our opponents quicker than they could throw them.

Once Hugo was flat on his feet I ran towards him using a shield-charm so not to get hit from behind.

"Nice job, cuz, I didn't know you had it in you."

He shrugged modestly. "I was just trying to keep us in the game. Now let's focus."

The spells kept firing back and forth for a while. Until I got another brilliant idea.

"Obscure!"

I was hoping to catch Louis off guard, hope he didn't know the spell. But the fourth year had done his homework. The blindfolds that had appeared on Luke and Louis' eyes were removed a second after they were put on.

I swore under my breath. "All out of tricks, eh, Potter?" Luke taunted.

I grinned. "Now quite yet, Thomas."

I knew a bunch of random spells, most of which would not be useful right now but a sneeze from Hugo brought something to mind.

I slowly closed the large gap between us and our opponents. Then right after Louis had sent another ball flying towards Hugo I shouted "Steleus!"

Louis definitely didn't know this spell. He had a confused look on his face, which took away time he could have used to cast a shield charm. The spell hit both Louis and Luke and they started to sneeze uncontrollably.

Louis was still shooting spells but since he kept closing his eyes to sneeze he couldn't aim very well.

I almost let them live, just to make the battle go on a little longer but before I could make the decision, Hugo shot both Louis and Luke with his water guns. Their shirts flashed rainbow. That was it they were out.

Hugo grinned broadly as the entire crowd cheered. I used the counter curse on Louis and Luke but before they could get up Hugo triumphantly put a foot on Luke I joined him and did the same to Louis.

The Gryffindors chanted our names. "Weasley, Potter! Weasley, Potter!"

Lily came down from the stands and hugged Hugo. Jacob came down and clapped Hugo on the back.

"I suppose that means I'll do the mile run?" I heard Jacob say to Hugo as I was accepting a small little trophy from Bryson.

I cocked my head to the side. Whatever a mile run was Jacob sounded a bit annoyed about having to do it. I knew I couldn't miss that.

* * *

The next morning Alice physically had to drag me out of bed.

"You're lucky I even bothered to get you up," she said as I glared at her for literally pulling me out of my bed. "I could have let you be late for the first day and get detention."

I just glared some more and Alice said, "I'm never letting you drink again, if you're this grumpy with a hangover."

I mumbled, "You never let me have any fun," under my breath but Alice still heard.

"What you don't think I can be fun?"

Because my head was pounding and I was grumpy and tired I shook my head. "You wouldn't know fun if it was dancing the Macarena in front of you while wearing fedora."

Alice seemed about to argue but instead she just looked at me. "Why a fedora?"

"Because they're fun." I grinned a little. "And you just proved my point that you know nothing about fun."

Alice rolled her eyes at me, threw my robe at me and left, muttering something about 'we'll see who knows fun.' I didn't care enough to call her back. Instead I crawled back into bed and slept.

For whatever reason teachers seem to find it rude and unacceptable when you showed up to class half way through the period.

Even when that Professor was supposedly one of your best friends.

"If you show up late for class one more time, Potter, I'll have to give you detention," Teddy said sternly.

I gave him a raised eyebrow. "Potter? Is that what you call me now, Moony?"

"_James, _please take your seat."

I shrugged. "If you say so, teach." I picked up the chair next to Fred and took it.

Teddy glared at me. "See me after class."

"Why because I did what you asked?" I said innocently cocking my head to the side.

The whole class was stifling giggles right now. Teddy stared me down and I stared at him back.

"Sit down, James."

I went towards my seat but made a point of standing for the entire period.

After class I hung around until the whole class emptied out.

"Why are you being such a smart-ass?" Teddy asked.

"What are you being such an ass-hole?" I countered.

"Don't talk to your Professor that way."

"Don't talk to a fellow _Marauder _that way." When Teddy didn't say anything I added, "Did you forget the number one rule? Once a Marauder always a Marauder?"

"James, I'm not a kid anymore," Teddy sighed.

"You're three years older than me!" I shouted, losing my temper. "Stop acting like your Dad's age. You're still a kid, and if you're not, then I'm an adult too."

"You're not of age, James."

"So what? I will be in a few months. Will you stop treating me like a child then?"

Teddy shook his head. "What I do, I only do to protect you."

"Oh yeah?" I asked narrowing my eyes at Teddy. I tried not to let sadness creep into my voice as I said the next words. "So you not telling me the truth about Grandpa Weasley's death that was protecting me? Not telling me that you're wife, my cousin, is pregnant?"

Teddy was shocked. He tried to speak but words didn't come. Very slowly he said, "James, you can't tell anyone."

I knew he was talking about the pregnancy. Finally I couldn't hold back the sadness, the betrayal. "I was the best man at your wedding, Teddy. Why didn't you tell me?"

"We only just found out," Teddy assured me. "I would have told you first." Before I could reply something dawned on Teddy. "Wait, how do you know about the pregnancy?"

I made a quick cover. "I noticed Victorie getting pregnant."

Teddy smiled. "Nice try. She's not even a month yet."

Perhaps I should have felt shame, but for a second I just felt pride. That smile, that ability to tell when I was lying, that was my Teddy. I just needed to know he was still in there. "For someone who's no longer a Marauder, you're still good at telling when I'm lying," I pointed out.

"James, just because I'm not a kid anymore, doesn't mean I'll ever stop being your brother."

That brought me back to reality. Reminded me that this wasn't really the Teddy I knew. "The old Teddy, my brother Teddy, would have told me about Grandpa Weasley."

There was sympathy in Teddy's eyes. It only made me angrier. "I don't want your sympathy. I don't want a shoulder to cry on." I paused as I gathered myself. "I just want to know why you betrayed me."

This clearly got to Teddy, as I had intended. "James… I- I couldn't tell you. You have to understand."

"There's a possibility that he's alive and you expect me to understand that you kept that from me."

Teddy shook his head. "James… he's not alive. He-"

"The body isn't discovered. That means he still has a chance."

"The body was found by one of Grandpa Weasley's co-workers. He was dead, but when he went to get other people to show them, the body was gone."

I said nothing with my mouth halfway open. I didn't know the apart about the co-worker. "You mean to say his body was discovered by a single person and seen by no one else?"

"Yes. But-"

"How do you know that person wasn't working for Code?" I exploded. "He could've been the one who killed Grandpa Weasley, or at least been a helper. You are such an idiot!"

Teddy used _Reparo_ to fix a glass I hadn't even realized I knocked over. "The man was checked out. They used Veritaserum on him. It wasn't him James."

I sighed almost disappointed. "Hey," Teddy said putting a hand on my shoulder. "You're going to be okay. If you ever need anything you can come to me, okay?"

I didn't really intend to do that at all but I nodded.

"Now this might be a little awkward but I'm going to have to give you a detention. Saturday nine am sharp."

The day didn't really get better as it went on.

At dinner I was finally pooped. Almost too pooped to realize Fred kept giving Alice meaningful glances. Almost.

"What is going on with you two?" I asked, irritated.

Fred and Alice shared an intense glance. "Tell him," Fred insisted.

Alice shook her head slightly but Fred spoke anyway seemingly against Alice's better judgement. "Remember the Hogwarts News? Two years ago someone was gossiping and writing a school column? They're at it again."

Reluctantly Alice handed me the newspaper.

The front cover showed Hugo and I holding the trophy from the Assassins game last night. I frowned. What was so bad about that?

It wasn't until I opened the paper and read a bit about it that I got angry.

_James Potter and Hugo Weasley victors of last night's school-wide assassin game. At first glance they seem like normal kids. But how much do you really know about these troubled kids?_

_I bet you didn't know that Hugo Weasley wet the bed until he was ten years old? Or that James Potter is still afraid of the dark? _

_ That's right. The brave James Potter is afraid of the dark. Can you believe the Gryffindor hero is still scared that there's monsters hiding under his bed? _

_The great heroine who defeated Ryan Code. Yes, let's not forget that this boy protected us from the frighteningly evil fourteen year old Ryan Code._

I didn't read the rest of the article. I had whipped out my wand and burned the paper. I knew people were pointing and laughing at me. I did my best to ignore them. It wasn't easy.

"I'm not scared of the dark," I muttered.

"Anymore," Fred retorted quietly. I glared at him.

"Were you the one who told this anonymous writer about that? Are you the writer?"

I was about to lean over the table and punch my cousin but Alice held me back. "It wasn't him. Remember Code revealed that to the whole school back in our third year."

Something occurred to me. "In our third year… that mean the writer must've been at Hogwarts when that happened. So anyone from Albus' age to year seven."

Alice sighed. "Please don't tell me you intend on hunting this person down."

"I'll find them, Alice. And when I do I'll kill them."

Alice might've had something to say to that but at that moment Flitwick called our attention.

"Students, sorry to interrupt your meal but I have a very important announcement to make. Unfortunately, Quidditch will be cancelled this year-"

This was followed by a chorus of boos, especially from me and Fred.

Flitwick magically amplified his voice and spoke over the boos. "This is because we will be having a Triwizard-style tournament."

This shut everyone up and satisfied, Flitwick continued. "It is called The Hogwarts Tournament. It will pin one member of each house against the others in a series of four events.

"In order for a student to compete they must have passed an overall passing grade on their OWL test."

This resulted in another commotion from the younger kids.

Flitwick raised his voice again, "This tournament if far too dangerous for anyone who doesn't have at least an OWL level of education. So for your own safety, those who do not have that level of education cannot compete.

"If you wish to enter this competition, and meet the requirements to do so, you must put your name in this bucket here." He placed an average white bucket on a stand near the Teacher's table.

"How are the competitors getting picked?"

"I was getting to that Mr. Potter. The contestant will be picked by none other than the Sorting Hat." Everyone was confused. I myself had been sure we'd use the Goblet of Fire. Noticing the confusion Flitwick added, "The Goblet of Fire is only to be used for Triwizard Tournament. If it makes you feel any better we can call this bucket the Bucket of Mysteries."

If you have any further questions please see your head of house. Thank you."

Flitwick sat down and I jumped up, pulled a piece of paper and quill out of my pocket and wrote my name and my house on the parchment and dropped it in the bucket. There were a few cheers from the Gryffindors.

I grinned. Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

**A/N: **Look I actually updated on time for once! Aren't you proud of me?

1: So I'm going to give you guys a rough schedule for how this book, as in the updates, will play out. So this is chapter five. There's twenty chapters in total (or at least I'm assuming there will be) so this will take roughly 250 days to update the entire thing. ROUGHLY. I could be off by 50 days for all I know. So don't hold me to it, okay? But if I'm anywhere near right we should be done this book in July. So I'm most likely going to update two-three times a month. I'll warn you that I may take a 2-3 week break at the end of January due to exams. So yeah. Sound good? Good. Next update will be December 1st by the way.

2: So last chapter you told me what fandoms you guys were in. Now who's your favorite character, and what's your favorite book (or season if it's a TV show) of those series? No spoilers please but if I'm in the same fandom as you feel free to PM me.

3: I always enjoy reviews! If you have any question, suggestions, or comments about the story feel free to review and or PM me!

4: I apologize that this chapter isn't very... plot-filling or action packed but I figured we needed a nice little fluffy chapter after teh last one. Well, a fluffy chapter mixed with a tiny bit of intensity. Maybe fluffy isn't the word... oh well.

5: Oh by the way when I do quotes from Tv shows I'm going to put the season and the episode. So that's what the 6.10 mean if any of you were wondering.

Not really many question to ask this but anyway: When will Teddy and Victorie tell the family about the baby? Will James keep their secret? Who's writing the Hogwarts newspaper again? When will we find out who killed Grandpa Weasley (if he's even dead!)?

"I learned that from the pizza man!" Castiel, Supernatural, 6.10.

-Monkeywoman14


	7. We Get Punched by a Theoretical Fish

Chapter Six: We Get Punched by a Theoretical Fish

(Albus)

"I seriously didn't even know it was possible," laughed Scorpius.

It was sad and happy at the same time. Scorpius had been telling Rose and me that his summer had actually been enjoyable. Instead of being left with Lucius- due to the fact that Lucius was now in Azkaban- Scorpius had spent the summer travelling with his parents.

"I think the only bad part was when I was forced to visit our cousins, the Greengrass'." He made a face at that.

Almost as if on cue Jonah Greengrass, Scorpius' cousin and a Slytherin in our year walked up to us.

"Scorpius, how nice to see you," Jonah said in a voice that clearly stated it was not nice to see him at all.

"What do you want, Jonah?" asked Scorpius glaring at his cousin.

"I just wanted to ask if you've seen the Hogwarts news this morning." He held a copy in his hand waving it around.

Rose gasped and grabbed Scorpius by the shoulder. "You really don't need to see that."

"Rose what are you-?" but he didn't have time to finish his question because James had appeared.

"Is this idiot giving you any trouble?" asked my older brother standing behind Jonah and towering over him.

"Not at all," Jonah replied easily tossing the news report in Scorpius' direction. The blonde boy caught it as the Slytherin walked off laughing.

James winced. "You might not want to look at that, Scorpy," my brother said. "And neither do you, Al."

Either James didn't know me at all, or he wanted me to read the article. Telling me not to certainly only made me feel like I _had_ to read it.

And so I snatched it out of Scorpius' hands. I immediately saw why Rose and James hadn't wanted Scorpius to see it.

On the very cover of the paper was a cartoon picture of Scorpius crying with a shadow looming over him. The headline read- _Scorpius Malfoy abused by his own Grandfather!_

It wasn't as though people thought Lucius was a good man. Everyone knew he was once a Death Eater but they had thought he'd redeemed himself. I knew better of course. Scorpius had told me, not long after we met, that his grandfather abused him. But besides Rose and me he had never, ever told anyone else at Hogwarts. Nor had Rose or I ever breathed a word.

"Scorpius…" Rose said hesitantly.

"Did you tell?" he asked sharply. Then he shook his head before either of us could answer. "No, you didn't. Then how'd they know? We talked in our dorm! Nobody else was there. No one else could have been there. Except…"

James who had awkwardly been standing there piped up, "If you are implying that this was done by one of the people in your dorm, I'm afraid you'd be incorrect. This whole _Hogwarts News _started when you were in second year. And there are some things this reporter- or whatever you want to call them- have done that are beyond the skills of a second year."

"They used to say that about your father all the time," whispered Scorpius. "And look where that got them."

No one needed clarification that 'they' referred to the Death Eaters and more specifically Scorpius' grandfather.

"I may have failed a few OWLs, but knowing stuff like this is my area of expertise," James said simply. "Trust me or don't but no one in your year is making that newspaper."

James walked off after that.

Scorpius was left with his mouth hanging partly open. I cursed James for being so insensitive, but I could only partly blame him. After all he had just spoke the truth.

With a little encouragement from Rose we had been able to get Scorpius to class.

"Hello, class, how are you all doing today?" Professor Malfoy spoke regarding the class.

"Good," we chimed.

At first I had been weary of Professor Malfoy, after all the last Malfoy we had as a teacher was sent to Azkaban, but after a few lessons with her I realized she wasn't bad.

"Did you all do the homework?"

"Yes," we chimed again.

"Good. Today you will need your wands."

The class looked at each other and grinned.

"Mrs. Weasley ten points to Gryffindor if you know a spell to cast aside the desks."

Rose easily used a spell and the middle of the room was clear.

"Very good," Malfoy approved. "Today we will be duelling. It seems most of your Professors in your previous years haven't prepared you in the same way I plan to prepare you. You must know what evil there is in the world in order to face it. My class will be just as much theory as it is magic and I assure you by the end of it you will be able to defend yourselves against the cruellest creatures and the evillest wizards."

I stared. The thing that shocked me was that Malfoy was speaking as tough she knew a war was coming. The only other person who seemed to speak like that was James. I disagreed with him, there was no immediate threat. It wasn't as though Code seemed to want to wage a war. He just wanted revenge. So the wizarding world as a whole had nothing to fear.

"Albus Potter and Louis Weasley," Malfoy announced, "You will be duelling first. The winner will get five points for their house. If you manage you duel in a way that impresses me, you'll earn ten."

We did the whole ten step and turn thing. Louis made the first move. I always found it helpful to go for defense, rather than offense, at first. It allowed you to focus completely on keeping yourself safe while they used their energy and it gave you a clear look at their strategy.

"Expelliarmus!" Louis shouted.

"Protego Reflecto!" I countered.

I didn't have to spend that much time on defense because I already knew Louis' strategy. He was a good duellist but he wasn't good at memorizing spells so his attacks consisted mostly of stunners, disarming spells, Impediment jinxes, and the leg locker curses.

It was almost as if he read my mind and wanted to prove something to me because he caught me off guard.

"Castreo!"

I was so shocked I had barely had time to roll out of the way. I had no idea what that spell did but I was pretty sure I did not want to get hit with it.

"Anakatus!" I yelled once I'd recovered.

Louis had attempted to duck out of the way but the spell skimmed him. It was easy after that. With Louis dazed from the spell- the effect was that it left you confused for a few seconds- I cast a simple Expelliarmus and finished it off.

The spell wore off and I gave Louis his wand back.

"Good duel," he said shaking my hand.

"Not too bad yourself," I admitted.

Malfoy awarded Gryffindor five points and had the next pair go.

This went on for the rest of the period. No duellist had been awarded ten points.

At the end of the period as we were packing up Malfoy addressed us. "That was pathetic. Had you been duelling a dark wizard or even an experienced seventh year, you would not have lasted a second. Looks like we're going to have to go over the basics."

As we left Rose turned to Scorpius. "What'd you say she was? Your dad's cousin?" Scorpius nodded. "I feel bad for your dad."

Scorpius and I were both astonished. Very slowly Scorpius asked, "Did you just make a joke?"

Rose lifted her head high and gave as an annoyed expression. "I am capable of being funny, you know."

We all laughed as we made our way towards the dungeons for Potions.

On our way into the class we saw James leaving. He grabbed me by the shoulder and whispered, "Do not anger her today."

I tried to ask my brother what he was talking about but he had disappeared in the crowd.

James was right. Today was not a good day to get on Parkinson's bad side for she was already in a very foul mood. I felt bad for James who just had double potions.

While Scorpius and I were busy doing the assigned reading and questions Parkinson wandered over to our table.

"Potter," she barked, "Stop talking."

I looked up at her. "I wasn't."

"Talk back to me one more time and you get detention."

I sighed and didn't say a word because I didn't want to get in trouble. It seemed to annoy Parkinson that she couldn't get the best of me like you could James.

"Detention Potter," she snapped. "After dinner my office."

I was about to ask why but kept my mouth shut and only nodded.

The rest of the day went by fairly quickly. I had a spare after lunch which I used to catch up on some work in the library and after that Arithmancy.

"Are you seriously going to go to detention?" asked James during dinner.

"You're not?" I replied taking a bite of chicken.

"Nah, I got some important business to deal with."

I knew better than to ask what this business was. James was always dealing with top-secret projects that he's tell no one about.

"Suit yourself," I mumbled through another bite of chicken as I got up and headed towards my detention.

Once I got there I was surprised there was so many other people. Almost all the desks were full. The only available seat was the one right in front of Parkinson and one in beside a Slytherin girl.

Reluctantly I went to sit beside the Slytherin. Then I realized I recognized her.

"Crystal?" I whispered, hoping not to draw Parkinson's attention.

She turned around. "Albus," she said as way of greeting. "Nice to see you."

I suddenly remembered the last time we spoke she had been angry with me. I hadn't understood why until Rose explained it. Crystal had thought I fancied her and was angry when I started dating Cassidy.

Why did girls have to be so complicated?

"You too." I didn't know whether it was a good idea to mention the argument. I decided to go for it. "Listen Crystal I'm sorry about-"

"Albus don't apologize. You have nothing to be sorry for. Let's just pretend that whole things never happened and be friends again like we were in first year."

I smiled. "Sounds like a plan."

We were supposed to be writing lines but instead we just talked. She told me about the vacation her and her parents took to America. She had a lot of stories to tell about travelling, since her dad had to travel for work.

I told her about my very uneventful summer. I decided to leave out the parts about snogging Cassidy. I told her about Teddy and Victorie's wedding, minus the scary hostage situation.

Before we even knew it we were dismissed. I had no idea what had Parkinson in such a bad mood today but for once I was glad for it.

* * *

(Lily)

My favorite spot was in front of the fire. It was warm and cozy and it made me feel at home for some reason. Reminded me of the nights James Albus and I, sometimes along with Hugo and Rose, would curl up with my parents and watch muggle movies, or read, or listen to Uncle Ron tell us stories about his days in Hogwarts.

It missed when life used to be so _easy. _Why'd it have to get hard? When did it get hard? They said Hogwarts would give you the nest years of your life, but right now I'd give anything to be five again.

"I miss it too," said a voice from behind me. "I would take anything to be back in front of that fireplace watching _The Wizard of Oz _for the zillionth time."

"Twenty-third," I whispered. "We've watched it twenty-three times."

I didn't need to ask who it was or how he knew what I was thinking. My cousin and I were just close like that. We just knew.

Hugo grinned and jumped over the couch to sit beside me. "You always were very specific."

I grinned a little and then frowned. "Don't talk like we're old friends meeting at a reunion, Hugo."

He looked into the fire his amber eyes getting lost in the flames. He didn't look at me when he spoke but it felt like his eyes were gazing into mine anyway. "We are though, aren't we?"

I grunted and turned to face Hugo. My sudden move startled him and he looked at me too. "Why does is have to be like that then? Why can't everything go to the way it was? Why is life so unfair?!"

It was a good thing it was past midnight and the common room was almost empty otherwise people would've stared. Thankfully though the two people quietly doing their homework together in the corner didn't even acknowledge us.

Hugo grinned sideways. "It's almost kind of funny that we never complain about the things in life that can be fixed."

"What… what do you mean?"

"Well, you don't hear us complaining about world hunger, or… or the fact that the world's gonna end. No, we're sitting here together wondering why we aren't as close as we used to be."

I shook my head confused. "What are you trying to say, Hugo?"

"I'm trying to say that if we went to the ocean right now and told all the dying fish our problem they'd probably punch us in the face. And they'd be right to do so! We can fix this Lily and it's not even that hard. Next time if we want to complain we should talk about Global Warming."

Maybe it was the ADHD part of me but I only really grasp one part of what Hugo said. "You think the solution to our problems is to get punched by theoretical fish?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying! Well… sort of. I'm saying let's not be idiots. Let's fix this easily fixed problem right now." He paused and took a deep breath. "Lily I'm sorry I was jealous of you and Jacob last year. I had no right to act the way I did. If you want to date him… well go ahead."

"Thanks you, Hugo. And I'm sorry I ignored you. You're the one who's been in my life this time, with me, protecting me, and I should respect that."

We sat for a minute in what should have been awkward silence. But there was no awkwardness between me and Hugo. We were more than cousins, we were best friends, each other's support when needed, and also siblings, and there would ever be anything getting between that ever again.

* * *

I had been sitting in the dorm waiting for Lucy and Roxanne when I noticed it was one am and neither of them had made an appearance.

In all honesty I was almost excited. The first week at Hogwarts had been quite boring- besides the new teacher Professor Malfoy whom I really liked- and finding my cousins seemed sort of like a secret mission.

I went to James' room and opened the door without knocking.

"Bloody hell!" shouted a half-naked Josh who pulled his short over his head hastily.

I blushed a little. I had always thought Josh was a little cute. He had dark blonde hair and blue eyes, and a winning smile.

"Whatcha staring at Lily?" asked Fred raising his eyebrows and nodding his head towards Josh suggestively.

To my utter embarrassment Josh understood Fred's signals and said, "Ooh, I get it. You like the Josh-ster. Well, I certainly can't blame you-"

"Dude," James said with a serious expression on his face for once. "Marauder's Code? A Marauder does not hit on fellow Marauder's sister without that Marauder's permission."

"Oh, so my opinion doesn't matter?" I countered but both James and Josh shushed me. They began arguing over their stupid Marauder Code. For a second I listened to them wondering how they could possibly call themselves trouble-makers while following so many rules. If I were to become a Marauder I wouldn't bother with the stupid rule book, though James would probably kill me for saying that.

Eventually I just went in James' trunk and took the cloak and the map, which is what I had come for. If I didn't know my brother better I would've said he didn't even notice me take his prized possessions, but he guarded those things with his life. Perhaps he just trusted me with them enough not to lose or damage the most important objects in James' life. It made me smile.

I checked the map to see where Jacob was. I felt a pang when I saw he was with Roxanne. I don't know why it bothered me so much. It shouldn't bother me. He was allowed to have other friends. He was allowed to have other _female _friends. I kept telling myself that but it didn't make me believe it.

Without really thinking about it I walked to the unused classroom in the Charms corridor that Jacob and Roxanne were in. In our first year the three of us had done so much exploring that I'd pretty much memorized the entire castle layout by now. I didn't even need to think where I was going now.

Once I arrived I took a pair of extendable ears and a pair of ex-ray eyes out of my pocket and silently thanked my uncles Fred and George for making these.

"Okay?" It was Jacob's voice.

"Jake, you can't keep bottling everything inside you." Roxy.

I made a fist so tight I almost crushed the near-invisible wire on the extendable ear.

"Yes, I can Roxy," Jacob whispered. Then ever so quietly, "I've done it for fourteen years so far."

"And you can't do it any longer," Roxanne stated firmly. "I'm serious Jacob, you will explain yourself right now."

There was a pause and I could see Jake's desperate face. I had never seen him like this, so vulnerable. But Roxanne didn't give in, she stared back at him and eventually he sighed. "Okay, fine, on one condition."

She narrowed her eyes before asking, "What is it?"

"You tell me what the hell happened to you over the summer." There was another pause. It seemed Roxanne was having an internal battle whether or not to agree. Finally she agreed.

Jacob nodded, but said nothing further. My cousin laughed. "Did you think I was going first? Oh, no, Cadler, you spill it."

"Fine," Jacob said with a sheepish grin. Then his face grew serious. "The letter… it was _him _reminding me that he could reach me even when he was here."

I thought back to this morning at breakfast trying to recall Jacob being upset about a letter from his brother – because that was obviously who he was talking about. It took me a while to remember I had eaten with Liam at the Hufflepuff table, not with the Gryffindor third years.

I made a silent vow to always pay attention to Jacob and make sure he was all right. How could I have missed something this big? And more important how did Roxanne catch it?

What came next shocked me even more than Jacob's statement. My cousin being sympathetic. She had a reputation for being incredibly… apathetic. Selfish. "You can't believe that Jacob," Roxanne said in a soothing voice, leaning close to Jacob. "He's lying to you."

Jacob put his head in his hands and shook his head. "You don't understand, Roxy. He can hurt me. And he's just playing the time game."

"No, he can't hurt you, I won't let him."

Apparently he hadn't heard her. "But it's not even me I'm worried about. It's Lily."

I could see Roxanne stiffen at the mention of my name. It saddened me. Made me think of times when it hadn't been like that. When Hugo, Roxy, Lucy and I had played nicely together. When dating wasn't an issue. When _Jacob _wasn't an issue.

"Why would you be worried about, Lily?"

Jacob didn't say anything for a minute, seemingly debated how much he should tell her. Roxanne stared at him until he gave in. "My brother discovered our message book."

I made a little gasping noise and immediately put my hand over my mouth. For all I know the one of the teachers was wandering these very halls. Understandably almost everyone, including the former trouble-makers, had a fear of detention after last year.

After what seemed like an eternity Jacob continued, "I was using it, and he found it open. I… I couldn't do anything, Roxy. I tried to stop him. But he saw it. He knew what it was. He read it aloud, just to humiliate me, and then… he used it as leverage."

"What did he do to you, Jacob?"

I couldn't help but notice, and feel a little bitter, at her sentence phrasing. 'What did he do to _you_?'She wasn't at all worried about me. Of course, I was more concerned about Jacob than I was myself at the moment but still did she have to completely ignore my existence?

"It's not important what he did to me, Roxy. I can deal with that. Hell, I could deal with the embarrassment if it only affected me. But he found a way to get Lily too. My worst nightmare has become a reality."

Jacob was looking down, but I was watching Roxanne. My cousin looked crestfallen but masked her feelings easily. I supposed she had practice. We all did.

And I couldn't help but feeling a little triumph that Jacob worried about me. His worst nightmare was letting his brother get to me. Me, not Roxanne.

"Jake, tell me. What did he do?"

"To me? The usual. Starved me, dehydrated me. You know, I think I would've died by now if I weren't a wizard. All that time, before I really understood what a wizard was, I was trying to comprehend how I could barely hold on to my life. It was underage magic, not allowing me to die." He paused for a second gathering myself. "All the scars he ever gave me disappeared by the next day. It's the main reason I never went to the police or anything- that and Jonathan would never let me out of his sight. You don't know how many times I'd wake up in the morning wondering what truly happened and what was just a horrid nightmare." He laughed bitterly. "It took me way long to realize that it didn't matter whether it happened when I was asleep or not. Because it was all real. It was my life and I lived it for five years non-stop."

I was silently crying for my friend on the inside. Jacob looked like he was doing his best not to and Roxanne was staring ahead. I wondered how he could possibly pick to vent out his feelings to her over me. She looked like she didn't even care.

"But I'm not worried about myself right now, Roxanne. It's Lily. Did you know I have a cousin who goes to this school? Yeah, my mother's sister's kid. Eddie. He's in Hufflepuff, a year older than us. Major gossip. Well guess what?"

It was a rhetorical question, but Roxanne answered anyway. "Your brother gave the texting-book to Eddie didn't he?"

Jacob nodded. "Tell me something, Roxy. Who the hell controls the balance of good and bad? Is it God? Because in all the stories I heard God was good. That can't be true. It's always the good people who get hurt. Always. Some people say nobody's born evil, I disagree. God is like the person who controls our world and everything in it. He's the puppet master and we're his puppets. He loves making people evil, giving them no freaking choice because he enjoys watching it. He's more sadistic than my brother."

That was it. I couldn't listen anymore. With tears in my eyes I stuffed the Marauder's Map in my pocket and hurriedly packed up my spy equipment.

Then I ran all the way up to the dorm.

But before I could get there I heard a voice in my head.

_You're a selfish brat, you know that._

At first I thought it was one of my brothers. It wouldn't be the first time James had invaded my head at a very private moment. But the voice was cold, and even James didn't verbally attacked me like that.

There was only one other person who had access to my head.

"Code," I breathed.

_That's right Lily. It's you old buddy Ryan. _

I was trying to think of something clever to say but I couldn't so I stayed silent.

_You're not as good at Occlumency as you think, Lily. You see I've been in your head for ages. _He laughed his heartless laugh. _That's right, Lily, none of you are safe. _

I wish I had the power to ignore his statement, to believe that he was lying. But I couldn't.

_Who's not safe? _I demanded. _You leave my family alone!_

_Oh, just like you left mine alone? I'm sorry, Lily, but I can't do that. You ruined my life and I'm going to ruin your brother's. You see there's many ways I can do that. It's up to you really. _

_I don't have time for your games, Code._

_Really? It seems you have times for Jacob's games. I thought he told you him and Roxanne weren't dating anymore? Didn't you guys make a pact not to resume that until fourth year?_

I tried not to give a response. I knew that's exactly what Code wanted. But he was attacking my friends, and my cousin, and I couldn't let him do that.

_Don't you dare talk about Jacob like you know him! _I snapped.

_You know what the funny thing about Legilimency is? It has no limits. You see I can read you mind, because of our special connection. It takes much less work and much less concentration than regular Legilimency. But your family's isn't the only minds I can read. I've been in the heads of all your friends Lily. _

I stiffened. It wasn't until then I realized I had frozen in the middle of the hallway. If anyone saw me, they might think I was stunned but I didn't care.

_Please don't hurt them, _I begged finally giving up on being brave.

_I've always wondered what my sister's last words were. Probably begged your brother for her life, before he pushed her under. _

"My brother did not drown your sister!"I shouted aloud.

Perhaps that was the exact reaction he wanted. For me to get so angry I'd actually scream then someone would come find me. But I had the Invisibility Cloak so I was okay. Hopefully.

_Don't talk about stuff you weren't even around to see, Lily, _Code snapped finally losing his temper momentarily. But a second later his voice was calm again. _Anyway, Lily, I have no intention of leaving anyone alone unless you do something for me first._

_And what's that? _I asked trying to keep the nerves out of my voice.

_Hand over the wand. _

I had no idea what I was talking about but I decided to respond anyway, _No way. You leave my family alone and then we'll talk about the wand. _

I felt Code's presence leave and it was only then that I realized he had full access to my head. So if he wanted the wand, which I didn't know anything about, then why did he ask me?

* * *

(Jacob)

I shut my eyes tight willing the tears to go away. Why were all these emotions coming up now? It's not like it was the first time I'd talked about my brother before. Why did I feel like crying now?

"Jacob it's okay to cry," Roxanne whispered.

But it wasn't okay to cry. It never was. "The only power I had against him," I said so quietly, so helplessly that I disgusted myself, "was to deny him what he wanted most. To see my pain. I couldn't always do it, keep myself from crying. But I always tried. Because it was the one thing I had left. A tiny part of myself that he didn't own."

I knew Roxy wanted to cry for me. I knew she wanted to hug me and pat my back and tell me everything was going to be all right. But she didn't. And that was why I chose her to talk to over any of my other friends. If I had told Lily any of this she would've burst into tears, and give me ultimate looks of pity.

That's was another thing I couldn't stand. Pity. I had no hard feelings against the concept of feeling sorry for someone. That made perfect sense when they deserved to have someone feel sorry for them. I, however, didn't deserve that. I didn't even deserve to be here at Hogwarts, and most certainly I didn't deserve to have friends, never mind ones who felt sorry for me.

Roxanne didn't say anything and I was glad for it. I needed to vent for I hadn't done it in so long. "I just don't understand his problem. Why does he enjoy it? Why does he do this to me? During the summer he locked me in a closet. I was in there for weeks. And every night he fell asleep laughing at the sound of my screams, me begging him to give me mercy. What is so fun about that?"

Maybe Roxanne had an answer because she almost spoke. At the last second, though, she shut her mouth. Probably for the best. I didn't really want an answer to the question. Not really because whatever the right answer was it probably wasn't the answer I was looking for.

We sat in silence for what might've been way too long. Perhaps it was unhealthy for me to silently pray to the devil that my brother would die a horrible death. But the other option was accepting that he didn't deserve that. Which he did. So I continued with my silent threats until Roxy spoke up.

"Jacob, what did he say in the letter?" she asked her voice suddenly full of concern and urgency.

I was a professional at hiding my emotions so neither my face nor my voice revealed anything. "Just that he wants me to know that he has total power over me. That he can ruin my social life here, just like he did back in Muggle School. And that Lily will go down with me."

"Don't lie to me, Jacob."

_How does she do that?_ I asked myself. I figured there really was no point in lying. "He told me if I come back and live with him he'll leave all my friends, and my sister alone."

"And you're considering it," Roxanne confirmed.

"Well I can't just let him get to you guys. I need you. I love you, and Lily, and Hugo, and Frank and hell I even like Lucy a little."

Roxy grinned at that, but her face went back to concern quickly. "Don't you understand that any of us would rather risk our social lives for you than have you risk your entire life for us?"

"It doesn't matter what you want."

"Yes, it does, Jake, because how much you care about us, your concern that Lily might get a little embarrassed, that's about a third of the concern Lily has for your _life._You can't just give yourself away like that. Lily needs you." Then in a much quieter voice, "I need you."

She reached out to hug me and I returned the hug, although I hated hugs and hardly ever allowed someone to hug me let alone hug them back.

But it was nice. For some reason in her arms I felt safe, I felt good. Like for a second all my problems were gone.

That was the thing about problems though. They never fully disappeared. You'd always have one or two or twenty on your hands even if they seemed to go away momentarily.

I broke off the hug when I remembered a particular problem. "Roxy, you little devil."

She tried to play innocent but she knew what I was talking about. I explained anyway. "You were trying to distract me about our deal."

"What?" she said in the worst 'angel voice' ever. "I would do no such thing."

We both laughed before the mood grew serious again. "Roxy, spill it."

She sighed. "What do you even want me to say?" she asked sounding so unlike Roxy that it was shocking.

"Just… anything. You can cry, you can vent, or you can just calmly tell me what happened over your summer."

She looked down and I wondered if she had tears in her eyes. When she spoke it sounded like it. "Mum and Dad were fighting."

I didn't usually like listening to people's problems. More often than not it would just cause me to get upset with them. How could I listen to people complain about petty things like having too much homework or having an argument with their sibling when my biggest problem was staying alive on holidays and breaks? But hearing the helpless tone of Roxy's voice that was so unlike her made me forget about myself and focus solely on her.

"About what?"

She looked up and snorted bitterly with tears in her eyes. "I think the better question is what they weren't fighting about." She paused to gather herself. "Mostly had to do with the fact that Mum thought Dad was doing drugs. Have you ever heard of Pixie Dust?"

"I don't think so."

"Well, it's some pink powder you can buy from any dealer. It's not really that dangerous but it's still illegal. Dad keeps swearing he isn't on it but there's signs." She began sniffling now. "Your eyes go red after you do it, you start to lose weight and you suddenly don't have an appetite."

She was full out sobbing now and I didn't know what to say or do. I was about to try and reassure her, tell her that it would be okay, but I knew she would hate that. Maybe even as much as I did. There was no way Roxy would want my sympathy.

"Hey," I said tilting her head up so she was looking me in the eyes. "I'm not going to tell you it's okay, because I know you'll want my sympathy about as much as I want yours. I can't tell you your father's going to be okay because I can't be sure about that and I don't want to lie. But I can tell you that you'll be okay. No matter what I will be here for you. Understand? If I'm ever not, I give you full out permission to hex my pants off."

She laughed and leaned towards me. For some reason I wasn't quite sure of I held her. We stayed like that for what might've been minutes or hours. I'm not really sure but we didn't move until we noticed the sun coming up.

* * *

**A/N: **Hope you enjoyed teh chapter and so sorry it was late!

1: Next update will be December 13th. After that it'll be December 22nd. And I've also decided I'll only be able to update once in January due to exams.

2 So I've been writing these one-shots about the characters in my book. Mostly just cute fluffy stuff, some things that helped develop the characters for me, and I was wondering if you guys were interested in me posting it. If I did I'd do it during short breaks like the one in January and maybe on Holidays or something.

3: QOTC (Question of the chapter): I have some major plans in regards to character development: which characters do you think will get developed, how and why?

4: 23 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS! Sorry I'm really excited.

Questions to think about: Who's is making the Hogwarts News? What's their motive? What's the deal with Professor Malfoy? Will Crystal and Al bus go back to bring friends just like that? Is Hugo and lily's friendship back intact? Will Lily ever get over Jacob? Will she take up Hugo's offer on his permission to date Jake? Will the jealous rage ever stop? Will Code ever leave the Potter family alone? What's this wand he speaks of and why does he want it so badly? Do Jacob and Roxy actually make a good couple? Has this chapter proven that Roxy actually has a soul despite what Lily thinks? Will Jacob's brother ever quit picking on him? Why does Jacob's brother pick on him so much? IS George really doing drugs? Stay tuned to find out!

"I lost my shoe," Sam Winchester, Supernatural, 3.3.

-Monkeywoman14


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